Lightning, Berks
- When
- August 10, 2:30 PM EST
- Where
- Berks County, Robesonia
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 40.416, -75.926 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning Strike in Pennsylvania, August 10, 1998
m. EDT and knocked out several fuses.
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.
Lightning struck two Pennsylvania Power and Light (PPL) substations in Robesonia and Shillington around 330 p.m. EDT and knocked out several fuses. The substations could not handle the incoming 69,000 volt lines from the company's Lancaster County station. Consequently 11,000 customers or about one-third of PPL's western Berks customer base lost power for about two hours. Another lightning strike caused about 160 GPU Energy customers in the Hamburg area to lose power.
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: 5668067.