Lightning from afternoon thunderstorms associated with the sea breeze causes 1 fatality and 3 injuries near St Petersburg in Pinellas County, and a structure fire near Palmetto in Manatee 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.
Lightning from afternoon thunderstorms associated with the sea breeze causes 1 fatality and 3 injuries near St Petersburg in Pinellas County, and a structure fire near Palmetto in Manatee 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 Jul 25, 12:44 PM EST, 3 hours 46 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
144 PM EDT Thu Jul 25 2024
.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 143 PM EDT Thu Jul 25 2024
High pressure will ridge across the area into the weekend, with
some drier air in place across the central and southern zones
from an approaching TUTT low. This drier air will lower PoPs
across those zones a bit into the 30-50 percent range for this
afternoon and Friday afternoon. Deeper moisture is in place across
the Nature Coast and we are already seeing some scattered showers
there. With the delay in convection this afternoon, temps will
warm into the mid 90s with heat indices around 105 across central
and southern zones.
Conditions moisten as a boundary then settles into the area for
Sunday and into early next week, then gradually dissipates. High
pressure builds back across the area for late Tuesday through the
end of the period, with E/SE wind flow returning. Rain chances will
be in the scattered to numerous range across the area through this
period, with lighter winds Sunday and Monday, then regimes 2 and 6
for Tuesday through the end of the period. Temperatures will
continue in the lower to mid 90s with afternoon heat indices of
100 to 105.
&&
.AVIATION...
(18Z TAFS)
Issued at 143 PM EDT Thu Jul 25 2024
S/SE winds at around 8kts this afternoon will continue to turn to
the SW/W through the late afternoon and evening, then becoming
light and variable after 02Z. Scattered convection will be
mainly 21-02Z this evening, and MVFR to IFR conditions will be
possible in storms. VFR conditions will otherwise prevail. Winds
increasing from the SE tomorrow after 14z.
&&
.MARINE...
Issued at 143 PM EDT Thu Jul 25 2024
High pressure will ridge across the waters into the weekend,
keeping a light SE flow in place with afternoon sea breezes
turning winds onshore each day. A weak boundary will settle across
the state on Sunday into Monday keeping winds more light and
variable, and then high pressure builds back into the waters for
Tuesday bringing light easterly flow. Scattered to numerous storms
will be possible each afternoon through early morning hours, with
winds and seas higher near the storms.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...
Issued at 143 PM EDT Thu Jul 25 2024
Some drier air will be in place across the area through Friday,
but afternoon minimum RHs will still be well above critical
levels and scattered late afternoon and evening storms will still
be possible across the area.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
TPA 79 92 78 92 / 40 50 40 60
FMY 76 94 77 93 / 20 70 30 70
GIF 76 96 77 95 / 20 50 20 60
SRQ 76 93 77 93 / 40 40 40 60
BKV 74 94 74 94 / 40 50 40 70
SPG 81 93 82 93 / 40 40 50 60
&&
Sea Breeze Thunderstorm Regime For Thursday: 6
Sea Breeze Thunderstorm Regime For Friday: 2
For additional information on sea breeze regimes, go to:
https://www.weather.gov/tbw/ThunderstormClimatology
&&
.TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...None.
Gulf waters...None.
&&
DISCUSSION/AVIATION/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...Hubbard/MLU
DECISION SUPPORT/UPPER AIR/CLIMATE...RDavisThe Tampa radar (KTBW), 17 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:31 UTC.
2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Broadcast media relayed report of a structure fire caused by lightning in Palmetto. Minor damage occured, however, there were no injuries reported.
County dispatch relayed report of 4 individuals that were struck by lightning and injured while standing under a tree near downtown St. Petersburg around 5:45 pm local time. Ensuing reports detailed that all 4 individuals were teenagers, 2 females and 1 male aged 16 along with a 17 year old male, and that one of the 16 year old girls had gone into cardiac arrest. Paramedics arriving on scene were able to restore the girl's pulse before taking her to Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital in St. Petersburg, along with one of the males that had received burns, and all 4 of the individuals were ultimately taken to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital for treatment and monitoring. Unfortunately, the 16 year old girl that had to be resuscitated on scene later succumbed to her injuries on August 19.
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, Pinellas | 2024-08-19 | 16 | Female | Under Tree | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, July 2024
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: 1204300, 1204301.