1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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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 Edwards AFB radar (KEYX), 110 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:19 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning strike from the continued thunderstorm activity resulting from a closed low just off the Central Calfiornia Coast. Thunderstorms occurred on the 4th and 5th in the Kern County area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 1998
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: 5637743.