Scattered afternoon thunderstorms developed in an environment favorable for severe wet microbursts with high Wet Microburst Severity Index values. In addition, a brief tornado touched down near Indian Pass in Gulf county.
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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 TAE wrote it up.
Scattered afternoon thunderstorms developed in an environment favorable for severe wet microbursts with high Wet Microburst Severity Index values. In addition, a brief tornado touched down near Indian Pass in Gulf county. This was a rare summer tornado not caused by a tropical cyclone. It is likely that there was some locally high shear values in places due to a boundary interaction with the sea breeze.
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 Tallahassee, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 4, 10:28 AM EST, 4 hours 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
1128 AM EDT TUE AUG 4 2015
.Near Term [Through Today]...
Broad troughing continues to cover the eastern half of the country
this morning, with a weak surface front (marked by a Td gradient)
draped northeast to southwest from Augusta to Mobile. Also, a
strengthening area of low pressure sits off the SC coast.
Satellite derived PWATs depict just over 1" behind the frontal
boundary that cuts off our SE Alabama and SW Georgia counties from
the rest. Ahead of the boundary, PWATs steadily increase to around
2" across the southeast Big Bend, with 1.6" sampled from the
morning sounding near Tallahassee. W/E oriented mesoscale
boundaries seen clearly on radar this morning allowed for some
slow moving storms to dump very heavy rain over Taylor and parts
of Dixie county. Just inland of Keaton Beach, nearly 6 inches of
rain fell. These storms have since diminished and any meaningful
convection will likely form along the seabreeze fronts beginning
early this afternoon. Some isolated pulse severe storms will be
possible across the Big Bend this afternoon where 3-4k J/kg SBCAPE
align with moderately high d-ThetaE values. This is further
corroborated by CAM modeled updrafts around 15m/s suggesting a
low-end severe threat within isolated storms.
Highs today will reach the middle to upper 90s, except possibly
across the southeast Big Bend where there is significant cloud
debris from this mornings storms.
&&
.Aviation...
[Through 12Z Wednesday]...
VFR will prevail outside of thunderstorms today. Storms will be
most likely from ECP to TLH to VLD. Similar to this morning,
patchy MVFR visibilities will be possible near dawn ahead of a
frontal boundary.
&&
.Prev Discussion [423 AM EDT]...
.Short Term [Tonight Through Thursday]...
With the region on the western edge of the subtropical ridge for
the short term period, expect a return to the typical summertime
afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. Model guidance
suggests areas across the Florida Big Bend and into South Central
Georgia will be favored for convection on Wednesday. By Thursday,
the leading edge of the next storm system moves into the Mid
South, and with deep layer moisture on the increase across the
western portion of the region, expect greater rain chances in the
western zones Thursday afternoon.
High temperatures throughout the short term period should be in
the mid 90s.
.Long Term [Thursday Night Through Tuesday]...
Primary focus for the long term period will be the approach of a
frontal system on Friday and Saturday. The main energy with this
system will move quickly through the Tennessee Valley on Friday
and reach the Mid Atlantic Coast by Saturday. A frontal boundary
will stall across the region early in the weekend, suggesting a
couple of high PoP days, especially through Sunday. Model guidance
then diverges on whether some drier air will filter in from the
north (GFS) or the region stays stuck in a wet pattern into the
first of next week (Euro). For now will indicate rain chances at
the end of the period slightly above climatology. With a wet
pattern expected for at least the first half of the long term
period, should see afternoon high temperatures in the lower 90s.
.Marine...
Winds and seas will return to typical summertime levels through
much of this week as high pressure builds back over the marine
area. A weak frontal system will approach the region by the
weekend and may result in a slight increase in winds.
.Fire Weather...
Warm and humid conditions will continue for the next several days
with scattered convection, mainly in the afternoon and early
evening.
.Hydrology...
The Steinhatchee River has crested and is now starting to slowly
fall. It is expected that the river will remain above flood stage
for at least the next few days, likely dropping below flood stage
on Friday morning.
With mainly scattered afternoon and evening storms the next few
days, do not anticipate any additional river flood concerns,
though areas in the Southeast Florida Big Bend, particularly in
Dixie County, will be especially prone to further areal flooding,
should any storms move over the area during the next couple of
days.
&&
.Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs...
Tallahassee 96 76 93 75 92 / 50 10 40 20 40
Panama City 88 78 88 78 88 / 30 20 40 20 40
Dothan 98 75 94 74 93 / 20 10 40 20 50
Albany 96 76 95 74 92 / 20 10 40 20 50
Valdosta 94 76 94 74 92 / 50 20 40 20 40
Cross City 90 76 92 74 91 / 70 20 40 20 40
Apalachicola 90 79 88 77 87 / 30 20 30 20 40
&&
.TAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK through this evening FOR Coastal Franklin-
Coastal Gulf.
GA...NONE.
AL...NONE.
GM...NONE.
&&
NEAR TERM...HARRIGAN
SHORT TERM...GODSEY
LONG TERM...GODSEY
AVIATION...HARRIGAN
MARINE...GODSEY
FIRE WEATHER...DVD
HYDROLOGY...GODSEYThe Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:33 UTC.
12 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A large tree was blown down and blocked Middle Creek Road.
Trees were blown down in the westbound lane of I-10.
A tree and power line were blown down at Douglas Crossroads.
Trees were blown down in the western part of Gadsden county.
The Florida Highway Patrol reported a tree in the road near the intersection of Natural Bridge Road and Woodville Highway.
A tree was blown down on Wakulla Springs Road north of Highway 267.
A large tree was blown down near the intersection of Natural Bridge Road and Old Plank Road.
A tree was blown down on Croatan Street.
A tree was blown down along Avalon Road.
A tree was blown down on Hardee Road.
A tree was blown down on Turlington Lane.
A tree was blown down onto County Road 412.
A brief tornado touched down in St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve just west of Indian Pass in Gulf County. Only minor damage to trees was reported. However, the tornado was confirmed via social media reports and eyewitness video obtained through a local media partner.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 2015Warnings in Florida, August 2015
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: 600266, 600268, 600267, 600269, 600270, 600271, 600272, 600273, 600274, 600275, 600276, 600277, 600244.