A sea breeze thunderstorm and its lightning strike struck a tree.
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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 JAX wrote it up.
A sea breeze thunderstorm and its lightning strike struck a tree.
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 Jacksonville, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 4, 8:30 AM EST, 1 hour 9 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Jacksonville FL 930 AM EDT Wed Jul 4 2018 .UPDATE... A 300 mb analysis shows TUTT low east of the central FL peninsula a couple of hundred miles...moving west at about 12 mph per satellite trends. Sfc data shows ~1023 mb high pressure centered over TN with weak inverted trough just offshore FL coast as reflection of the mid and upper level feature to the east of FL. Satellite imagery shows the low level cloud field with rather well-defined trough with cyclonic curvature of clouds. Combination of low level convergence...good divergence aloft and elevated instability over the Atlantic waters producing isolated to scattered showers and storms this morning over the marine waters and have already moved into GA and Nassau county in northeast FL. Main t-storms threats mid to late today (mainly inland) will be frequent lightning...gusty winds and possibly some hail given sufficient shear aloft of about 30-35 kt...mid level lapse rate of 6.2 C/km and 500 mb temp of - 8.7C. Only updates so far were to spread t-storms faster inland with Waycross already having storms this morning and tweak overall POPs for today. Forecast temps in the mid 80s to around 90 look good. && .AVIATION... VFR to MVFR cig conditions expected through the morning. Exception is the chance of MVFR cigs and even brief IFR due to chance of showers and storms from about 13z-18z. In very near term...this is more likely for JAX metro terminals. At least for the next 2-3 hrs...there is limited TSRA at GNV but enough confidence to have a tempo group in place from about 18z-22z. After about 19z/20z...coastal terminals chance of storms will be dropping to about 20 percent or less. Small chances of showers late tonight affecting SGJ and SSI as onshore flow supports a risk of a few showers moving in off the Atlantic. && .MARINE...Winds appear to be a little more northeast initially and a little higher so have updated CWF to reflect this. Seas generally near 2-4 ft with periods of 5-7 seconds. Rip Currents: Pretty solid moderate risk at area beaches through Thursday due to onshore flow and surf/seas nearshore of 2-3 ft. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... AMG 89 71 90 71 / 60 40 30 10 SSI 86 76 86 76 / 50 30 40 30 JAX 88 73 89 73 / 50 30 40 30 SGJ 86 73 86 73 / 50 30 50 30 GNV 89 71 89 72 / 60 50 70 30 OCF 89 71 88 72 / 60 50 70 40 && .JAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. GA...None. AM...None. && Shashy/Cordero
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Jacksonville FL
804 AM EDT WED JUL 4 2018
FLZ124-GAZ165-166-041230-
Coastal Nassau FL-Inland Camden GA-Coastal Camden GA-
804 AM EDT WED JUL 4 2018
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR EASTERN NASSAU AND SOUTHEASTERN
CAMDEN COUNTIES UNTIL 830 AM EDT...
At 801 AM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a thunderstorm with
heavy rainfall near Kings Bay Base, moving southwest at 15 to 20 mph.
Doppler radar has indicated very weak rotation within this storm.
Funnel clouds could develop with this thunderstorm activity.
Tornadoes may develop with little or no advanced warning.
Locations impacted include...
St. Marys, Kingsland, Kings Bay Base, Cumberland Island and Harrietts
Bluff.
LAT...LON 3076 8142 3069 8148 3075 8164 3075 8167
3077 8173 3095 8150 3088 8141
TIME...MOT...LOC 1201Z 051DEG 16KT 3085 8148
SHASHYThe Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:40 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a tree at the Woodlake Apartments off of San Jose Blvd. The cost of damage was unknown, but it was estimated for the event to be included in Storm Data.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, July 2018
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: 771961.