Scattered thunderstorms developed and moved northwest across the Florida Peninsula. A lightning strike from one of these storms struck and killed a man in Lee County.
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.
Scattered thunderstorms developed and moved northwest across the Florida Peninsula. A lightning strike from one of these storms struck and killed a man in Lee County.
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 Jul 25, 1:38 PM EST, 17 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL 238 PM EDT MON JUL 25 2016 .SHORT TERM (Tonight - Tuesday)... Similar to previous days sea breeze and outflow boundary driven showers and storms (Isolated to low end scattered range coverage in nature due to warmer temperatures aloft) will wind down across the forecast area during the early evening as boundary interactions weaken and loss of daytime heating occurs with convective debris cloudiness again gradually thinning out with skies becoming partly cloudy overnight. On Tuesday deep layered ridging surface and aloft from the western Atlantic extending across the northern peninsula and southeastern states will remain in control with a light southeast to southerly wind flow continuing across the forecast area. Models show that moisture will not be a plentiful as today as some mid level dry air and subsidence moves into the region, so expect to see less diurnal sea breeze driven coverage of showers and storms across the forecast area with pops mainly in the 20 to 30 percent range from the coast to inland locations. Temperatures tonight and Tuesday will remain a few degrees above normal with lows tonight in the lower to mid 70s over inland areas, and upper 70s along the coast, with daytime highs on Tuesday climbing to around 90 along the coast, and lower to mid 90s inland. .LONG TERM (Tuesday Night - Monday)... Models continue in very good agreement with the features and pattern through the forecast period. Upper ridge centered over the GA and SC low country into the Western Atlantic with remnant upper low over the NW Gulf of Mexico mid-late week as a series of dry pockets aloft periodically move through the region. The upper ridge slowly moves eastward further into the Western Atlantic for the weekend as an upper trough moves through the Great Lakes then into New England early next week. Western Atlantic surface Bermuda high pressure remains weak and meanders over the FL Peninsula through the week and into the weekend with light low level steering flow. Expect slightly below normal scattered afternoon/evening pops through much of the week then return back to 40-60 percent diurnal heating and seabreeze/outflow convection this weekend. Lower pops and increased sun to keep daytime temps a few degrees above normal with warm overnight temps as well area wide. && .AVIATION... Brief MVFR/IFR conditions may impact the terminals through 00Z as scattered shra/tsra develop over the region and have handled with VCTS for now. Outside of the convection VFR is expected. Southeast to south winds at 7 to 10 knots can be expected with higher gusts in the vicinity of tsra. VFR with southeast to south winds in the 5 to 7 knot range can be expected after 02Z as the shra/tsra end. && .MARINE... Tranquil boating conditions will continue over the Gulf waters tonight through the end of the week as the ridge axis currently across the northern peninsula slowly sinks south to be across the central peninsula by mid to late in the week. Light southeast to south winds along with slight seas will prevail over the waters through mid week, then as the ridge sink south a light southeast to south wind flow can be expected from Venice south, while a light south to southwest flow will develops further north with a weak pressure favoring an enhanced onshore sea breeze component along the coast each afternoon. Wind and seas will be higher in the vicinity of thunderstorms, otherwise no headlines are expected. && .FIRE WEATHER... Ample low level moisture will keep humidity values well above critical levels through the remainder of the week with no fire weather issues expected. && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... TPA 77 92 78 93 / 20 30 20 40 FMY 76 94 76 93 / 20 20 30 50 GIF 75 94 76 95 / 30 30 30 30 SRQ 78 91 77 92 / 20 20 20 30 BKV 74 92 74 95 / 20 30 20 40 SPG 79 92 80 93 / 20 20 20 30 && .TBW Watches/Warnings/Advisories... FL...None. Gulf waters...None. && SHORT TERM/AVIATION/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...57/McMichael MID TERM/LONG TERM/DECISION SUPPORT...25/Davis
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 402 AM EDT MON JUL 25 2016 FLZ043-050-052-056-057-061-139-142-148-149-151-155-160-162-165- 239-242-248-249-251-255-260-262-265-GMZ830-836-850-853-856-870- 873-876-251500- SUMTER-PINELLAS-POLK-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-DESOTO-COASTAL LEVY- COASTAL CITRUS-COASTAL HERNANDO-COASTAL PASCO- COASTAL HILLSBOROUGH-COASTAL MANATEE-COASTAL SARASOTA- COASTAL CHARLOTTE-COASTAL LEE-INLAND LEVY-INLAND CITRUS- INLAND HERNANDO-INLAND PASCO-INLAND HILLSBOROUGH-INLAND MANATEE- INLAND SARASOTA-INLAND CHARLOTTE-INLAND LEE-TAMPA BAY WATERS- CHARLOTTE HARBOR AND PINE ISLAND SOUND- COASTAL WATERS FROM TARPON SPRINGS TO SUWANNEE RIVER FL OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM ENGLEWOOD TO TARPON SPRINGS FL OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM BONITA BEACH TO ENGLEWOOD FL OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM TARPON SPRINGS TO SUWANNEE RIVER FL OUT 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM ENGLEWOOD TO TARPON SPRINGS FL OUT 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM BONITA BEACH TO ENGLEWOOD FL OUT 20 TO 60 NM- 402 AM EDT MON JUL 25 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY WINDS...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS...AND FREQUENT DEADLY LIGHTNING STRIKES. ALTHOUGH A FEW STRONGER STORMS ARE POSSIBLE...NO WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED EACH AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH THE GREATEST POTENTIAL FOR STORMS TO THE SOUTH OF THE I-4 CORRIDOR. THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY WINDS...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS...AND FREQUENT DEADLY LIGHTNING STRIKES. ALTHOUGH A FEW STRONGER STORMS ARE POSSIBLE...NO WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED TODAY...HOWEVER IF STORMS DO BECOME LOCALLY STRONG...SPOTTERS SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER IN THEIR LOCATION AND SELF ACTIVATE IF NEEDED. MROCZKA
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 158 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:52 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 35 year old man was struck by lightning while working on the 6th floor lanai of a building under construction. Witnesses said that this was the only lightning strike seen or heard in the area from the storm. Attempts to resuscitate the man were unsuccessful, and he died at the scene.
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, Lee | 2016-07-25 | 29 | Male | Heavy Equipment/Construction | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, July 2016
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: 639807.