Lightning, Montgomery
- When
- August 10, 7:00 PM EST
- Where
- Montgomery County, Limerick
- Property damage
- $15,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 40.211, -75.367 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning Strike in Pennsylvania, August 10, 1998
Lightning struck a house in Limerick and the ensuing fire damaged its basement and interior. The damage was estimated at $15,000.
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
- $15,000
- 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.
Lightning struck a house in Limerick and the ensuing fire damaged its basement and interior. The damage was estimated at $15,000. Lightning apparently entered the peak of the roof, traveled along the side and crossed the front of the house along the soffit. It then traveled down the side into the basement where it traveled along a gas pipe and blew the flextube off the pipe that sends the gas to the fireplace. It took firefighters less than 15 minutes to extinguish the blaze.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
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
- Lightning Strike in Wyoming, August 10, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Pennsylvania, August 10, 1998
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strike in Michigan, August 10, 1998
- Flash Flood in Ohio, August 10, 1998
- Lightning Strike in Virginia, August 10, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, August 10, 1998
- Lightning Strike in Ohio, August 10, 1998
- Lightning Strikes in Maryland, August 10, 1998
- Flash Flood in Ohio, August 10, 1998
- Tornado and Hail in Oklahoma, August 10, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Texas, August 10, 1998
- Flash Flood in Missouri, August 10, 1998
More
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, August 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: 5668066.