A warm front draped over the northern part of Florida was the main focus of showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon. The front along with the moist unstable air just south of it helped to produce a few stronger storms.
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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 warm front draped over the northern part of Florida was the main focus of showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon. The front along with the moist unstable air just south of it helped to produce a few stronger storms. One of these storms produced damage in Sumter 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 30, 1:20 PM EST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL 220 PM EDT Tue Mar 30 2021 .DISCUSSION... The upper ridging continues to stretch across the Bahamas, through the Florida Strait and into the southern Gulf of Mexico. On the surface, strong high pressure sitting off the New England coast ridges southwest over the mid-Atlantic states. A stalled frontal boundary extends over northern Florida and along the northern gulf coast of AL/MS/LA. Scattered showers will be possible today with the highest coverage north of the I-4 corridor in the vicinity of the front. An easterly component wind flow combined with an east coast sea breeze will produce scattered showers over the interior counties on Wednesday afternoon. By late Wednesday into Thursday, deep troughing digs into the central U.S. and moves eastward. This troughing will support a more significant weather system that will push another cold front through the Florida peninsula on Thursday. Current guidance has the highest rain chances over the interior and east coast with frontal passage. The trough axis and frontal boundary moves off the eastern seaboard by early Friday morning. Strong upper ridging and surface high pressure build in behind this front and will help usher in some much cooler and drier air for the weekend. Rain-free conditions are expected for Friday through the middle of next week. Temperatures for today and tomorrow will run above average before the cool down starts on Thursday. The coolest day expected will be on Friday with daytime highs topping out only in the upper 60's to mid 70's. The coolest night will be on Thursday and Friday night with temps dropping into the low 40's to low 50's. Temperatures begin to moderate closer to normal on Saturday and Sunday, then further warming above average for the first part of next week. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions prevail at all terminals. Some SHRA possible today, but highest chances should stay north and east of the terminals, so will hold off on any mention in current TAFs for now. SW to NW winds around 8-12 knots and gusty at times expected through the afternoon, then becoming light and variable after sunset. && .MARINE... A frontal boundary currently extends across the northern gulf waters and northern Florida, with a few showers possible along and just off the coast. East-southeast winds south of the front will turn onshore today and Wednesday with the afternoon sea breezes. A stronger cold front will push southeast into the waters on Thursday, bringing in breezy northerly winds by early Thursday with winds and seas building to Small Craft Advisory level. Winds will turn to the northeast and then easterly on Friday and Saturday and continue to run at or near advisory levels. && .FIRE WEATHER... West central and southwest Florida remains in a warm and moist air mass for the next couple of days keeping RH values above any critical levels. A significant cold front is expected to move through Florida on Thursday. Cooler and much drier air filters in behind this front late Thursday through Saturday bringing RH values below 35 percent. These low RH values and gusty northerly winds will likely produce Red Flag conditions on Thursday and Friday. RH values remain borderline for the weekend, but lower wind speeds should preclude the need for a Red Flag Warning over the weekend. && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... TPA 72 86 69 76 / 10 10 10 20 FMY 70 89 70 83 / 10 20 10 20 GIF 70 89 68 78 / 30 40 20 30 SRQ 70 85 68 77 / 10 10 10 20 BKV 65 89 61 75 / 20 10 10 10 SPG 72 84 70 75 / 10 10 10 20 && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. Gulf waters...None. && DISCUSSION/AVIATION/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...74/Wynn DECISION SUPPORT...25/Davis
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Tampa Bay Area Ruskin FL
643 PM EDT Tue Mar 30 2021
FLZ043-302315-
Sumter-
643 PM EDT Tue Mar 30 2021
...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT NORTHEASTERN SUMTER COUNTY...
At 642 PM EDT, a strong thunderstorm was located near Bushnell,
moving northeast at 10 mph.
Winds in excess of 40 mph and half inch hail are possible with this
storm.
Locations impacted include...
Wildwood, Bushnell, Lake Panasoffkee, Coleman, Adamsville and
Sumterville.
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm, and may cause
localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded
roadways.
LAT...LON 2874 8195 2871 8196 2865 8209 2876 8216
2886 8195
TIME...MOT...LOC 2242Z 240DEG 12KT 2874 8205
TBWThe Tampa radar (KTBW), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:50 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Emergency Manager reported a tree down, electrical lines, and unknown size hail.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, March 2021
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: 940858.