Lightning, Falls Church (C)
- When
- July 23, 4:30 PM EST
- Where
- Falls Church (C) County, Falls Church
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 38.882, -77.171 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning Strikes in Virginia, July 23, 1998
Scattered thunderstorms with abundant cloud-to-ground lightning struck different sections of Fairfax Co during the evening, causing several instances of damage. In Falls Church, a large oak tree was split by a strike, with limbs crushing a fence and falling onto two sedans.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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
- $72,000
- 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 LWX wrote it up.
Scattered thunderstorms with abundant cloud-to-ground lightning struck different sections of Fairfax Co during the evening, causing several instances of damage. In Falls Church, a large oak tree was split by a strike, with limbs crushing a fence and falling onto two sedans. Later that evening, direct strikes in southern Fairfax Co caused four separate fires. The strikes included: two strikes to roofs of single-family homes, one to the roof of a garden apartment, and another to a shed. One of the fires, in the Groveton area, damaged the second floor, rendering the home temporarily uninhabitable. The other single-family house fire caused damage to the attic.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning, Fairfax
- When
- July 23, 5:30 PM EST to 6:30 PM EST
- Where
- Fairfax County, South Portion
- Property damage
- $70,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 38.835, -77.276 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
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
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Massachusetts, July 23, 1998
- Damaging Wind in New York, July 23, 1998
- Lightning Strike in Mississippi, July 23, 1998
- Flash Flood in Nevada, July 23, 1998
- Damaging Winds in Tennessee, July 23, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Arkansas, July 23, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Winds in New York, July 23, 1998
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in New Mexico, July 23, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Kansas, July 23, 1998
- Damaging Winds in Virginia, July 23, 1998
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, July 23, 1998
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Colorado, July 23, 1998
More
Every storm in Virginia in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Virginia, July 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: 5662969, 5662970.