A ridge of high pressure across the Florida peninsula setup light southerly winds over Central Florida that allowed a seabreeze to form. Some of the thunderstorms that developed on the seabreeze produced gusty winds.
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The episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.
A ridge of high pressure across the Florida peninsula setup light southerly winds over Central Florida that allowed a seabreeze to form. Some of the thunderstorms that developed on the seabreeze produced gusty winds.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 8, 12:57 PM EST, 4 hours 16 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 157 PM EDT WED AUG 8 2012 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT-FRIDAY)... IN THE MID/UPPER LEVELS THE RIDGE WILL HOLD OVER THE SOUTHWEST U.S. AND OVER THE WESTERN ATLANTIC EAST OF FLORIDA WITH TROUGHING OVER THE EASTERN STATES. SHORTWAVES WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE THROUGH THE TROUGH HELPING TO DEEPEN IT DURING THE PERIOD AND PUSH A WEAKENING COOL FRONT INTO THE SOUTHEAST STATES. THIS WILL KEEP THE LOW LEVEL RIDGE AXIS OVER THE CENTRAL FLORIDA PENINSULA WITH A GENERAL SOUTHWEST FLOW ACROSS THE NORTH... SOUTHERLY FLOW CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST FLOW ACROSS THE SOUTH. THE FLOW WILL REMAIN LIGHT ENOUGH FOR THE WEST COAST SEA BREEZE TO DEVELOP EACH AFTERNOON AND LIKELY MOVE INLAND TO AROUND THE INTERSTATE 75 CORRIDOR. DEEPEST MOISTURE WILL REMAIN ACROSS NORTH FLORIDA THROUGH THURSDAY THEN ON FRIDAY THE NEXT WAVE/INVERTED TROUGH WITH DEEPER MOISTURE WILL BEGIN TO MOVE IN FROM THE SOUTHEAST. THEREFORE THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT RAIN CHANCES WILL REMAIN ON THE LOW SIDE...AROUND 20 PERCENT...THEN INCREASE TO 30 TO 40 PERCENT DURING FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN NEAR NORMAL TO A FEW DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD. .LONG TERM (FRIDAY NIGHT-WEDNESDAY)... EXTENDED FORECAST PERIOD WILL BEGIN ON SATURDAY WITH AN AMPLIFIED NORTHERN STREAM FLOW DEFINED BY LARGE SCALE RIDGING ACROSS THE PLAINS/INTER-MOUNTAIN WEST...AND AMPLIFIED LONG WAVE TROUGHING OVER THE EASTERN THIRD OF THE CONUS. OUR FORECAST AREA WILL RESIDE IN BETWEEN THIS EASTERN TROUGH AND ANOTHER UPPER RIDGE EXTENDING FROM THE WESTERN ATLANTIC TO SOUTH FL/FL STRAITS. AT THE SURFACE...THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE AXIS WILL EXTEND ACROSS THE CENTRAL PENINSULA INTO THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO. WITH THE MAIN SYNOPTIC SUPPORT FROM THE UPPER TROUGH ALONG WITH AN ASSOCIATED SURFACE FRONT SAFELY TO OUR NORTH...WILL EXPECT OUR WEATHER TO BE NEAR CLIMO FOR AUGUST TO START OUT THE WEEKEND. UPPER TROUGH WILL BEGIN TO DE-AMPLIFY OUT OF THE SOUTHEAST CONUS DURING SUNDAY ALLOWING THE UPPER RIDGE TO BUILD BACK NORTH OVERHEAD. THERE ARE SOME DIFFERENCES IN THE GLOBAL MODELS IN THE LOWER LEVELS CONCERNING THE POSITION OF THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE AXIS. THE GFS KEEPS THIS AXIS CLOSE-BY...GENERALLY ACROSS THE CENTRAL PENINSULA...WHILE THE ECMWF LIFTS THE RIDGE AXIS NORTHWARD TOWARD THE I-10 CORRIDOR. THE ECMWF PATTERN ALLOWS MORE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE TO STREAM INTO THE REGION FROM THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST... AND WOULD LIKELY LEAD TO A WETTER PATTERN IN TERMS OF THUNDERSTORMS COVERAGE FOR SUNDAY INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE RESULTING SOUTHEAST LOW LEVEL FLOW IS ALSO CLIMATOLOGICALLY FAVORED FOR ENHANCED SEA BREEZE CONVERGENCE ALONG THE WEST COAST. DIFFICULT TO PIN DOWN WHICH GLOBAL MODEL HAS A BETTER HANDLE ON THE SITUATION. FEEL THE BEST APPROACH AT THIS POINT IS TO BASE THE FORECAST ON A BLEND OF THESE TOO RELIABLE GUIDANCE SOURCES. THE OVERALL IMPACT OF THIS BLEND WILL BE TO RAISE THE MEX POPS SUNDAY AND MONDAY...AND LOWER THE MEX HIGH TEMPS A COUPLE DEGREES (AS A RESULT OF POTENTIAL SHOWER COVERAGE AND LOSS OF INSOLATION DUE TO ENHANCED CIRRUS CANOPY). THE ECMWF REJOINS THE GFS WITH A RIDGE AXIS ACROSS THE CENTRAL PENINSULA BY WEDNESDAY...AND WILL BASE THE FINAL DAY OF THE FORECAST PERIOD HIGHLY ON THE MEX GUIDANCE. && .AVIATION... PATCHES OF MVFR CEILINGS WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR ANOTHER HOUR OR SO...THEN VFR CONDITIONS SHOULD PREVAIL AT THE TERMINALS THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. SOME MVFR CEILINGS MAY AGAIN BE POSSIBLE IN THE MID TO LATE MORNING HOURS THURSDAY BUT HAVE LEFT CONDITIONS AT SCATTERED FOR NOW. ONLY ISOLATED CONVECTION IS EXPECTED FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH BEST CHANCES OVER INLAND AREAS SO HAVE NOT INCLUDED IT IN THE TAF FORECAST AT THIS TIME. && .MARINE... SURFACE RIDGE AXIS ACROSS THE CENTRAL WATERS WILL MAINTAIN A RATHER LIGHT SOUTHEAST FLOW ACROSS THE SOUTHERN WATERS AND A SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST FLOW CENTRAL AND NORTHERN WATERS FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. THE SEA BREEZE IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP NEAR SHORE EACH AFTERNOON SHIFTING WINDS TO ONSHORE. CURRENT FORECAST IS IN GOOD SHAPE WITH NO MAJOR CHANGES PLANNED FOR LATE MORNING FORECAST. && .FIRE WEATHER... NO CONCERNS AS RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES WILL REMAIN ABOVE CRITICAL LEVELS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... TPA 78 93 78 92 / 20 20 20 30 FMY 76 95 76 94 / 20 20 20 40 GIF 75 95 75 94 / 20 20 20 30 SRQ 76 92 76 91 / 20 20 20 30 BKV 73 94 73 94 / 20 20 20 30 SPG 79 91 79 90 / 20 20 20 30 && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...NONE. GULF WATERS...NONE. && SHORT TERM/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...69/CLOSE LONG TERM...14/MROCZKA AVIATION...24/COLSON
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 252 AM EDT WED AUG 8 2012 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-090000- LEVY-CITRUS-SUMTER-HERNANDO-PASCO-PINELLAS-HILLSBOROUGH-POLK- MANATEE-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-SARASOTA-DESOTO-CHARLOTTE-LEE- 252 AM EDT WED AUG 8 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE IS EXPECTED TO BE LOW TODAY AS DRY AIR ARRIVES ALOFT. THE BEST CHANCE OF A STORM WILL BE FROM TAMPA BAY NORTHWARD ALONG THE NATURE COAST...HOWEVER EVEN HERE THE STORMS WILL BE ISOLATED IN NATURE. ANY ISOLATED STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP MAY CONTAIN FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS...BUT SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... NORMAL COVERAGE OF MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL BE IN THE FORECAST FOR THE END OF THE WEEK AND EARLY PORTION OF NEXT WEEK. A FEW STORMS MAY BE ON THE STRONG SIDE EACH DAY...HOWEVER NO SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER THREAT IS ANTICIPATED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. MROCZKA
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:11 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A resident reported that thunderstorm winds snapped off the top of a 60 foot pine tree which landed on a carport.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, August 2012
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 408786.