Lightning, Oklahoma
- When
- October 28, 4:30 PM CST
- Where
- Oklahoma County, Bethany
- Property damage
- $200,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 35.552, -97.407 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Tornado and Lightning Strike in Oklahoma, October 28, 1998
Widely scattered thunderstorms developed over portions of central Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 28th. One thunderstorm was responsible for a lightning strike at a home in the Brownsville addition in Bethany, which is in Oklahoma County.
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
- $200,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 2
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 OUN wrote it up.
Widely scattered thunderstorms developed over portions of central Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 28th. One thunderstorm was responsible for a lightning strike at a home in the Brownsville addition in Bethany, which is in Oklahoma County. The result was a fire that destroyed much of the house. There was also a report of a small and brief tornado witnessed by a local TV media chaser 6 miles north of Meridian in Logan County. No damage was reported (F0).
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 lightning, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Logan
- When
- October 28, 4:55 PM CST
- Where
- Logan County, 6 mi N of Meridian
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.3 mi
- Path width
- 25 yd
- Reported by
- BROADCAST MEDIA
- Coordinates
- 35.920, -97.250
What these are
- Lightning
- A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, October 28, 1998
- Flash Flood in Puerto Rico, October 28, 1998
- Flash Flooding in U.S. Virgin Islands, October 28, 1998
- High Surf in Hawaii, October 28 to 31, 1998
- Winter Storm in Colorado, October 28, 1998
- Heat in Oklahoma, October 28, 1998
- Flood in Alabama, October 28, 1998
- High Wind in Colorado, October 28, 1998
More
Every storm in Oklahoma in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Oklahoma, 1998Warnings in Oklahoma, October 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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5675214, 5675213.