Sea breeze thunderstorms moved southwest across the Florida Peninsula. One of these storms produced several hail reports across 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.
Sea breeze thunderstorms moved southwest across the Florida Peninsula. One of these storms produced several hail reports across 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 Mar 1, 2:48 PM EST, 18 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL 248 PM EST Wed Mar 1 2017 .SYNOPSIS... Aloft - A short wave trough was across the Four Corners region while a trough reached from northern Manitoba to the Upper Midwest. A ridge centered just north the Yucatan sprawled across most of the Gulf of Mexico region. Surface - Elongated low pressure across the lower Great Lakes trailed a cold front southwestward to the TX coast while a warm front stretched east to the Canadian Maritimes. Atlantic high pressure near 35 North/55 West ridged to Fl and continued on west over the Gulf of Mexico. && .SHORT TERM (This afternoon through Thursday)... The Four Corners short wave slides east and dampens out over the high plains as the upper trough slips eastward...reaching from northern Ontario to the Great Lakes...tonight. During Thu the trough rotates with the southern end moving across New England and over the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The upper ridge centered over the Yucatan slides over Cuba to east of the Bahamas. The surface low tracks to Newfoundland... dragging the cold front to the eastern sea board by daybreak Thu then offshore during the rest of the day. The southern end of the cold front reaches north FL around dawn and south-central FL by the afternoon. The high pressure ridge continues across FL over night then exits to the east Thu but continuing to influence the area. A pleasant and warm afternoon continues with a few showers possible later this afternoon or early evening across the interior central and southern counties. Later tonight there will be enough low level moisture...along with light to calm winds...for some low cloudiness and patchy fog. After sunrise Thu the fog and to a less extant the lower clouds will begin to lift as a cold front approaches with a narrow swath of higher but limited moisture. Model PWAT values range from 1.4 to 1.6 inches generally across the Nature Coast...although some even higher values will reside along the east FL coast. Expect isolated to scattered showers through out the day from Pasco County north. Slightly drier air south of there will limit rain chances except for the far inland central and southern counties where sea breeze convergence and the slightly deeper east coast moisture could support some showers. The best lift will stay closer to the upper trough...well north of the area and precluding any thunderstorms. Temperature dip by a degree or two...especially in the north. .LONG TERM (Thursday Night - Wednesday)... An amplifying and progressive split flow upper air pattern will prevail across the Conus during the long term period. Models for the most part remain in fairly good agreement with synoptic scale features through most of the period, then diverge during days 6 and 7 with regards to the next front to affect the region, so for now will use a blend. At the start of the period a cold front will be moving south through the southern peninsula where it will eventually stall out across the Florida Straits early on Friday as it become parallel to the upper level flow. A few lingering showers will be possible across south central portions of the forecast area early Thursday night, otherwise mainly dry conditions are expected as cooler and drier air advects into the region in the wake of the front. During Friday and into the upcoming weekend a strong (1040MB) and sprawling surface high pressure will build in over the mid Atlantic coast as the remnant frontal boundary to the south washes out. A tightening pressure gradient (7-9MB) will lead to a breezy to windy northeast wind flow with cooler and drier conditions on Friday with the flow becoming easterly during the weekend. The surface high will shift east southeast into the Atlantic late Sunday into Monday with winds veering into the southeast with a slow increase in moisture and moderating temperatures expected. During Monday and Tuesday an upper level trough moving east from the Rockies into the Plains will maintain upper level ridging along the eastern seaboard while the attendant surface high over the Atlantic shifts a bit further to the east with the ridge axis extending back to the west across the southeastern states. The deep layered ridging will maintain mainly dry conditions across the forecast area with warming temperatures. By late Tuesday the aforementioned upper level trough will be moving toward the northeastern states and eastern Canada taking on a negative tilt as it does so. As the upper trough moves eastward an attendant trailing cold front will move through the Panhandle and into the northern Florida peninsula Tuesday night, and then south through the forecast area on Wednesday. As mentioned above the GFS and ECMWF differ with the handling of this front with the latest GFS showing fairly decent moisture and lift along and ahead of the front to support some showers and possibly a storm or two as the front moves south through the region on Wednesday. The ECMWF on the other hand is slower with the front compared to the GFS and now keeps the front at bay to our north and west through Wednesday as high pressure persists across the region. Given these differences will cap pops in the 20 percent range on Wednesday for now and will wait to see if better continuity develops among the models in the coming days. After several days with temperatures in the mid and upper 80s and overnight lows in the 60s, temperatures will fall back to slightly below seasonal levels Friday and into the first half of the upcoming weekend, with highs on Friday topping out around 70 across the Nature Coast, and lower to mid 70s central and south with lows Friday night falling into the lower 40s across the Nature Coast, mid to upper 40s central interior zones, and upper 40s to lower 50s south. After a rather cool start Saturday morning temperatures will begin to moderate back toward seasonal norms during Sunday and Sunday night, with above normal readings returning for early next week. && .AVIATION... 01/19Z-02/18Z. VFR prevail...but with a very low chance of a shower near the far southern terminals later this afternoon or early evening...until AFT midnight. Then MVFR CIGS and some IFR VSBY spread in until about 14Z. BR and Clouds begin to lift at 14Z. S and SW winds become light and variable to calm overnight then shift to west for the end of the period. && .MARINE... High pressure across the eastern Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic continues tonight with light winds and some patchy fog possible along the coast from the Tampa Bay area north. A front eases south through the waters Thu and Thu evening with some showers. High pressure builds in along the Gulf coast Fri then moves east to the Atlantic by Mon. This will provide some robust winds and seas Fri-Sat with cautionary or advisory conditions expected. As the high moves east wind begin to veer and diminish. && .FIRE WEATHER... High pressure ridging across Florida will provide light winds and enough moisture for patchy fog later tonight. This ridge slides east Thursday as a cold front moves south over the state during the day and evening...with isolated to scattered showers. High pressure builds into the Gulf Coast Friday then moves east through Monday. This will provide initially robust winds and cooler and drier air. But was the high moves east winds veer with time and both temperatures and moisture will begin to recovery. && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... TPA 65 80 58 74 / 10 10 20 10 FMY 68 85 64 78 / 10 10 20 10 GIF 65 83 58 72 / 10 20 20 10 SRQ 65 79 61 75 / 10 10 20 10 BKV 59 80 53 72 / 10 20 20 10 SPG 66 79 60 73 / 10 10 20 10 && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. Gulf waters...None. && SYNOPSIS/SHORT TERM/AVIATION/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...09/Rude MID TERM/LONG TERM/DECISION SUPPORT...57/McMichael
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL 345 AM EST Wed Mar 1 2017 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- 873-876-012045- 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- 345 AM EST Wed Mar 1 2017 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for West Central And Southwest Florida. .Day One...Today and Tonight. ...DENSE FOG/SMOKE IMPACT... Areas of fog, some locally dense, will continue to develop through sunrise this morning before dissipating by mid morning. Visibilities will frequently be reduced to less than one quarter mile. If driving, slow down, use your low beam headlights, and leave plenty of distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. Patchy dense fog is expected to develop once again tonight/Thursday morning. .Days Two through Seven...Thursday through Tuesday. ...MARINE IMPACTS... Winds and seas will increase as strong high pressure builds in behind a cold front Thursday night. Wind speeds of 20 to 25 knots with seas of up to 7 feet will create hazardous boating conditions for small craft operators from late Thursday night through Saturday morning. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed today. Fleming
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:04 UTC.
2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Broadcast media received a viewer video of hail estimated of between 1/2 and 1 inch in diameter.
Broadcast media received a viewer video of penny sized hail in Lehigh Acres.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, March 2017
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: 679185, 679198.