Light southwesterly flow coupled with abundant moisture brought widespread showers and storms to West Central Florida. Unfortunately, one of those thunderstorms produced a fatal lightning strike.
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.
Light southwesterly flow coupled with abundant moisture brought widespread showers and storms to West Central Florida. Unfortunately, one of those thunderstorms produced a fatal lightning strike.
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 Sep 7, 1:10 PM EST, 34 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL 210 PM EDT Tue Sep 7 2021 .DISCUSSION... At the start of the period a mid level low will be moving north into the north-central Gulf of Mexico while high pressure surface and aloft remains across the southern Florida peninsula. As the mid level low lifts northward it will interact and get absorbed into a long wave trough developing over the eastern U.S. and extending south into the northern Gulf as an attendant frontal boundary sags south through the southeastern States and becomes stationary along the northern Gulf coast during Thursday and Thursday night. Similar to previous days some of the models continue to hint at the possibility of tropical development over the northeast Gulf or along the northern Gulf coast (in the vicinity of the aforementioned trough) during Thursday with this system then tracking east- northeast toward the Big Bend region and moving across the northern peninsula Thursday night, and then into the western Atlantic on Friday. At the moment much uncertainty remains with regards to the overall evolution of this system if any and the National Hurricane Center currently has a low chance (30 percent) for any tropical or subtropical development with this system during the next 48 hours and a 40 percent chance during the next five days, with the best chances for any development taking place over the northeast Gulf Wednesday night, with some additional development possible over the Atlantic offshore the southeast U.S. coast late in the week. Regardless of development an increasing onshore flow will bring increasing moisture (PW's increasing to 2+ inches) into the forecast area with scattered to numerous showers and storms expected each day through Friday, with the highest Pops along with the potential for some locally heavy rainfall likely setting up from the I-4 corridor north into the Nature Coast where a Marginal Risk for Excessive Rainfall and localized flooding will reside during Wednesday and Thursday. Now during the upcoming weekend and into early next week the aforementioned trough/low pressure area will exit to the northeast over the Atlantic with high pressure surface and aloft rebuilding in over the region with the surface ridge axis shifting northward with a southeast flow developing during the weekend then backing to the east as we move into early next week as the surface ridge lifts northward. Ample moisture combined with daytime heating will support scattered to numerous sea breeze driven showers and storms over the forecast area each day through the period. Overnight low temperatures will run above normal along the coast due to the onshore flow where readings in the upper 70s to around 80 can be expected, with lows in the lower to mid 70s inland. Daytime highs will run near normal with highs climbing into the upper 80s to lower 90s with heat indices in the 100 to 105 degree range each afternoon. && .AVIATION... Brief MVFR cigs/vsbys from SHRA/TSRA may impact the terminals through 21Z before moving east of the coastal terminals. Some additional MVFR conditions may affect the terminals overnight into Wednesday morning as additional SHRA/TSRA redevelop over the Gulf waters and push onshore. Southwest to west winds in the 7 to 10 knot range the remainder of the afternoon with higher gusts near TSRA will become light and variable after 01Z tonight, then become southwest at 6 to 8 knots after 14Z on Wednesday. && .MARINE... A weak area of low pressure is expected to move into the central or northeastern Gulf of Mexico over the next few days. Tropical development, if any, and the exact path that this feature takes across the Gulf will determine what marine impacts if any we will see across the coastal waters, especially the northern ones. At the current time winds appear to increase into the Cautionary or low end Small Craft range Wednesday night into Thursday across the northern near and offshore waters with seas building into the 3 to 5 foot range. Across the remainder of the waters winds should remain below 15 knots with seas 3 feet or less. The forecast in the coming days may change some as the forecast becomes better defined with regards to this disturbance, so stay tuned. Nevertheless, a south to southwest wind flow and abundant moisture will keep chances for showers and storms elevated over the waters tonight through the remainder of the week with higher wind and seas in the vicinity of storms. && .FIRE WEATHER... Ample moisture and elevated rain chances will keep humidity values well above critical levels through the remainder of the week. Lightning strikes from thunderstorms will pose a risk of fire development, otherwise no other fire weather hazards are expected. && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... TPA 79 89 79 88 / 20 60 20 60 FMY 76 91 77 90 / 20 50 10 40 GIF 75 92 75 90 / 20 80 10 60 SRQ 76 89 77 87 / 20 50 10 50 BKV 73 89 73 87 / 30 60 20 60 SPG 79 88 80 87 / 20 50 20 50 && Sea Breeze Thunderstorm Regime For Today: 4 Sea Breeze Thunderstorm Regime For Tomorrow: 6 For Additional Information On Sea Breeze Regimes go to the link below https://www.weather.gov/tbw/ThunderstormClimatology && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. Gulf waters...None. && DISCUSSION/AVIATION/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...57/McMichael DECISION SUPPORT...05/Carlisle
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 31 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:46 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Broadcast Media reported a fatal lightning strike that hit a man working on a roof.
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, Manatee | 2021-09-07 | 19 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
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, September 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: 975717.