Damaging Wind and Lightning Strikes in Michigan, June 16, 1998

A broad but weak area of low pressure was located over the Great Lakes. A trough dropped slowly southeast across southeast Michigan during the late afternoon hours. Interactions between this trough and a number of lake breeze boundaries ignited thunderstorms. Only one storm became severe, as several trees were downed in Oxford. However, the storms were prodigious lightning producers.A man in Detroit was killed by lightning as he was walking from his home to his car. He was carrying a tire iron, which may have contributed to the strike. Two were injured when lightning struck at a Little League game in Taylor. A woman suffered convulsions and was taken to the hospital, which she was released from later that night. A boy was knocked down, but was treated at the scene, and a trip to the hospital was not required. On Peach Mountain in northern Washtenaw County, the transmitting antenna for WUOM radio was struck by lightning. Both the transmission line to the antenna, and the antenna itself, had to be replaced. A residence in Livonia suffered significant damage after a lightning strike.