A strong thunderstorm in Lee county produced weak rotation and a funnel cloud.
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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 TBW wrote it up.
A strong thunderstorm in Lee county produced weak rotation and a funnel cloud.
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 Aug 13, 1:05 PM EST, 2 hours 8 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL 205 PM EDT Thu Aug 13 2020 .DISCUSSION... The ridge axis both aloft and at the surface continues to extend through central Florida. This will keep light winds less than 10 knots across the region for the next couple of days. This will also allow for the sea breeze to develop and push inland each afternoon through Friday. As we have seen the past couple of days, these storms will be slow movers with areas seeing outflow boundary collisions receiving the stronger storms with heavier rainfall. The ridge axis shifts slightly southward by Saturday and continuing through the beginning of next week, allowing for the winds to shift to the southwest. This will favor early morning showers and storms over the gulf waters and coastline, then progressing eastward through the afternoon hours. The temps will continue to run around average with daytime highs in the low 90's and overnight lows in the mid 70's. Heat indices each day will top out in the 100-105 degree range each afternoon. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions will prevail through the day. Showers and storms are already starting to fire up, so will hold VCTS at all terminals between 18-02Z. The west coast sea breeze has set up allowing for the winds to turn onshore. Winds will decrease to light and variable overnight with no other aviation impacts expected. && .MARINE... Benign boating conditions with light winds and minimal seas persist over the gulf waters. The primary hazard for mariners continues to be thunderstorms. Scattered showers and storms have been firing over the gulf waters this morning and will increase in coverage closer to the coast his afternoon. Mariners should watch for storms that may develop and drift towards the coast during the late afternoon and evening hours, creating locally hazardous winds and seas. && .FIRE WEATHER... Scattered showers and isolated storms can be expected each day for the remainder of the week and into the weekend. These showers combined with high humidities each day will preclude any fire weather concerns. && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... TPA 77 93 78 93 / 30 50 20 60 FMY 76 93 77 94 / 30 50 20 60 GIF 75 94 76 94 / 30 60 10 70 SRQ 77 93 78 92 / 30 40 20 50 BKV 74 93 75 93 / 20 60 20 60 SPG 78 93 79 93 / 30 50 20 60 && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. Gulf waters...None. && DISCUSSION/AVIATION/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...74/Wynn DECISION SUPPORT...57/McMichael
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL
336 PM EDT THU AUG 13 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0315 PM TSTM WND GST 2 E ZEPHYRHILLS 28.23N 82.15W
08/13/2020 M51 MPH PASCO FL AWOS
AWOS STATION KZPH ZEPHYRHILLS MUNICIPAL
AIRPORT.
&&The Tampa radar (KTBW), 142 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:13 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Broadcast media shared a picture of a funnel cloud near RSW airport. There is no evidence it touched the ground.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, August 2020
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: 902766.