Lightning, New Castle
- When
- June 12, 10:30 PM EST
- Where
- New Castle County, Newport
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 39.578, -75.639 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning Strike in Delaware, June 12, 1998
Thunderstorms with frequent lightning moved through New Castle County during the late evening of the 12th. A lightning strike forced the evacuation of 700 General Motors employees at the Newport Plant.
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
- None recorded
- 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 PHI wrote it up.
Thunderstorms with frequent lightning moved through New Castle County during the late evening of the 12th. A lightning strike forced the evacuation of 700 General Motors employees at the Newport Plant. The plant suffered minimal damage. Lightning also knocked two of the three channels in the county police's radio system off the air. Delmarva Power and Light reported about 6,300 customers lost power throughout the peninsula that evening.
The radar
The Dover AFB radar (KDOX), 85 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:30 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
- Tornado and Hail in Michigan, June 12, 1998
- Tornadoes and Flood in Iowa, June 12 to 18, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Indiana, June 12, 1998
- Tornado and Hail in Indiana, June 12, 1998
- Damaging Winds in West Virginia, June 12 to 13, 1998
- Tornado in Illinois, June 12, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, June 12, 1998
- Flood and Hail in Ohio, June 12, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, June 12, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, June 12, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, June 12, 1998
- Damaging Winds in Pennsylvania, June 12, 1998
More
Every storm in Delaware in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, June 1998
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: 5665538.