Lightning, Canyon
- When
- May 14, 7:00 PM MST to 7:30 PM MST
- Where
- Canyon County, Caldwell
- Property damage
- $15,000
- Coordinates
- 43.625, -116.709 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning Strike in Idaho, May 14, 1996
Thunderstorm activity caused damage from heavy rain, large hail, and lightning. 85" of rain in less than one hour.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $15,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS BOI wrote it up.
Thunderstorm activity caused damage from heavy rain, large hail, and lightning. In Canyon and Ada counties, thunderstorms produced up to 1 inch hail and .85" of rain in less than one hour. Thunderstorms developed later in the afternoon in Malheur county in Oregon producing 1/2 inch of rain in 40 minutes at Owyhee Dam and over an inch at Nyssa. Several lightning strikes from a thunderstorm in Canyon county hit three different homes. One strike blew a hole through one home starting a fire, another destroyed a satellite dish and the third blasted light bulbs and a water heater.
The radar
The Boise radar (KCBX), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:58 UTC.
Event by event
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Lightning
- A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Lightning Strike in Nebraska, May 14, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Texas, May 14, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Texas, May 14, 1996
- Drought in Arkansas, May 14 to 31, 1996
- Flooding in Kentucky, May 14 to 20, 1996
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Montana, May 14, 1996
- Heat in Alaska, May 14, 1996
- Heat in Alaska, May 14, 1996
- Flood in Missouri, May 14 to 15, 1996
- Hail in Oklahoma, May 14, 1996
- Hail in Oklahoma, May 14, 1996
- Hail in Oklahoma, May 14, 1996
More
Every storm in Idaho in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, May 1996
Sources
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: 5556278.