Deep tropical moisture and southwest flow off the Gulf of Mexico allowed scattered afternoon thunderstorms to develop. A lightning strike from one of these storms struck and killed a 16 year old boy.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.
Deep tropical moisture and southwest flow off the Gulf of Mexico allowed scattered afternoon thunderstorms to develop. A lightning strike from one of these storms struck and killed a 16 year old boy.
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 Sep 7, 12:18 PM EST, 3 hours 28 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 118 PM EDT FRI SEP 7 2012 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT-SUNDAY)... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING WILL END BY MIDNIGHT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL REDEVELOP OVER THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL COASTAL WATERS LATE TONIGHT AND MOVE LOCALLY ONSHORE TOWARD SUNRISE. A L/W TROUGH WILL DIG OVER THE EASTERN U.S. TONIGHT AND SATURDAY AS A COUPLE OF STRONG DISTURBANCES ROTATE THROUGH THE BASE OF THE TROUGH INTO SUNDAY. THIS WILL HELP PUSH A COLD FRONT OVER THE SOUTHEAST U.S. LATE SATURDAY APPROACHING NORTH FLORIDA ON SUNDAY. CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH AN AREA OF DISTURBED WEATHER OVER THE CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO WILL BE PICKED UP BY THE APPROACHING TROUGH AND LIFT NORTHEAST ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE FLORIDA PENINSULA LATE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY. MAIN IMPACT SHOULD BE TO ENHANCE ABUNDANT MOISTURE ALREADY OVER WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA WITH AN INCREASE IN AREAL COVERAGE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN. SLIGHT CHANCE THAT AN ORGANIZED MCS COULD DEVELOP OVER THE NORTHEAST GULF LATE SATURDAY NIGHT AND MOVE ONSHORE EARLY SUNDAY WHICH WOULD INCREASE THE THREAT OF AN ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MAINLY NORTH OF TAMPA...BUT STILL TOO EARLY TO DETERMINE. FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL BEGIN TO SLOW ITS SOUTHERN PUSH LATE SUNDAY OVER NORTH FLORIDA AS IT BECOMES PARALLEL TO THE U/L FLOW WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS PERSISTING OVER THE REGION. GFS MOS GUIDANCE APPEARS TOO LOW WITH POPS AND AM LEANING TOWARD THE WETTER NAM. .LONG TERM (SUNDAY NIGHT-THURSDAY)... AN UPPER TROUGH WILL BE STALLING ACROSS NORTHERN FL SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...THEN DISSIPATE AS UPPER RIDGING BUILDS OVER THE STATE FROM THE CARIBBEAN AND REMAINS OVER THE AREA THROUGH THURSDAY. AT THE SURFACE...A COLD FRONT STALLED ACROSS THE AREA WILL SLOWLY SHIFT SOUTH AS IT DISSIPATES ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA THROUGH TUESDAY WITH BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE TO THE NORTH RIDGING DOWN THE STATE AND INTO THE AREA THROUGH THURSDAY. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE EACH DAY THROUGH TUESDAY WITH THE BOUNDARY ACROSS THE AREA. DRIER AIR WILL THEN MOVE INTO THE REGION UNDER NE FLOW FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY WITH ONLY ISOLATED RAIN CHANCES IN THE AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES WILL BE IN THE UPPER 80S TO LOWER 90S EACH AFTERNOON WITH LOWS IN THE UPPER 60S TO MID 70S EACH NIGHT. && .AVIATION... BRIEF MVFR CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES FROM SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT THE TERMINAL SITES THROUGH 07/24Z AND HAVE TEMPO GROUPS IN THE TAFS TO COVER THIS. OUTSIDE OF THE CONVECTION VFR IS EXPECTED. SOUTHWEST WINDS AROUND 10 KNOTS WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KNOTS IN THE VICINITY OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME LIGHT AND VARIABLE AFTER 08/02Z TONIGHT...INCREASING TO 10 TO 12 KNOTS AFTER 08/14Z ON SATURDAY. && .MARINE... WINDS AND SEAS WILL INCREASE LATE SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY AS THE COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE WATERS. SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN WATERS THROUGH SUNDAY WILL CREATE LOCALLY GUSTY WINDS AND ROUGH SEAS. WINDS AND SEAS WILL SUBSIDE MONDAY AND TUESDAY...WITH INCREASING NORTHEAST WINDS BY MIDWEEK. && .FIRE WEATHER... NO FIRE WEATHER HAZARDS THROUGH THE PERIOD AS RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES WILL REMAIN ABOVE CRITICAL LEVELS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... TPA 75 89 75 88 / 30 40 60 60 FMY 74 90 75 90 / 30 30 40 50 GIF 73 90 73 90 / 30 40 50 60 SRQ 76 88 76 87 / 30 30 50 60 BKV 71 89 72 88 / 30 50 60 60 SPG 78 88 78 88 / 30 40 60 60 && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...NONE. GULF WATERS...NONE. && SHORT TERM/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...13/OGLESBY LONG TERM/AVIATION...57/MCMICHAEL
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 546 AM EDT FRI SEP 7 2012 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-071600- LEVY-CITRUS-SUMTER-HERNANDO-PASCO-PINELLAS-HILLSBOROUGH-POLK- MANATEE-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-SARASOTA-DESOTO-CHARLOTTE-LEE- 546 AM EDT FRI SEP 7 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREA MAINLY THIS AFTERNOON WITH THE BEST CHANCES INLAND. MORNING SHOWERS NEAR THE COAST WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WATERSPOUTS. THE MAIN THREATS FROM ANY STORMS WILL BE GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL THAT COULD CAUSE MINOR FLOODING OF LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED EACH DAY THROUGH MID-WEEK WITH BEST CHANCES OVER THE WEEKEND AS MOISTURE INCREASES ACROSS THE STATE AHEAD OF A WEAK LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM AND COOL FRONT. GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS WILL LIKELY BE THE MAIN THREAT WITH THIS ACTIVITY. ...RIP CURRENT IMPACT... AN INCREASE IN SOUTHWEST FLOW MAY LEAD TO AN INCREASED RISK OF RIP CURRENTS ALONG AREA BEACHES OVER THE WEEKEND. ...WIND AND SEA IMPACT... WINDS AND SEAS WILL BE INCREASING TO NEAR ADVISORY LEVELS FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK. SMALL CRAFT OPERATORS SHOULD MONITOR CONDITIONS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER AND SELF ACTIVATE IF NEEDED. COLSON
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:44 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 16 year old boy was loading a trailer outside his home when it started to rain on the 7th. The boy went to cover a dirt bike under an oak tree when his mother heard a loud boom and found him unconscious. The boy was taken to a hospital where he died on the 11th.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Polk | 2012-09-11 | 16 | Male | Under Tree | Direct |
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, September 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: 410712.