Lightning, Merrimack
- When
- July 9, 3:00 PM EST
- Where
- Merrimack County, Bradford
- Property damage
- $3.0 million
- Coordinates
- 43.298, -71.680 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning Strike in New Hampshire, July 9, 1997
Lightning ignited a massive 21 alarm fire between 4:00 and 4:30 pm that gutted a lumber mill in Bradford. More than 200 firefighters and 50 fire trucks battled the blazed that completely destroyed the lumber yard.
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
- $3.0 million
- 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 GYX wrote it up.
Lightning ignited a massive 21 alarm fire between 4:00 and 4:30 pm that gutted a lumber mill in Bradford. More than 200 firefighters and 50 fire trucks battled the blazed that completely destroyed the lumber yard.
The radar
The Portland,ME radar (KGYX), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:01 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
- Hail and Damaging Winds in West Virginia, July 9, 1997
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in New York, July 9, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, July 9, 1997
- Flash Flood and Hail in Kansas, July 9, 1997
- Damaging Winds in New York, July 9, 1997
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Mississippi, July 9, 1997
- Flood in Ohio, July 9 to 10, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Georgia, July 9, 1997
- Damaging Wind and Lightning Strike in Pennsylvania, July 9, 1997
- Lightning Strike in Maine, July 9, 1997
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in Massachusetts, July 9, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Massachusetts, July 9, 1997
More
Every storm in New Hampshire in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in New Hampshire, July 1997
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: 5624992.