Lightning Strike in Utah, August 23, 2000

Name: Lightning Strike in Utah, August 23, 2000
Start: 2000-08-23T11:30
End: 2000-08-23T11:30
Location: Utah

August 23, 2000 · NWS SLC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 2
Injuries: 4
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.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Tooele

When: August 23, 11:30 AM MST
Where: Tooele County, Central Portion
Deaths: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 4 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 40.449, -113.131 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A 26-year-old man and a 27-year-old man were struck and killed by lightning while fighting a fire on the north end of the Stansbury Mountains. The lightning strike also injured 4 other members of the Flame-N-Go's firefighting unit from the Utah State Prison's Lone Peak facility. The leader of the crew was not struck, but suffered from extreme shock.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Lightning, Tooele	2000-08-23	26	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct
Lightning, Tooele	2000-08-23	27	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

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

Every storm in Utah in 2000 Every state in 2000 This day in weather history Warnings in Utah, August 2000

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: 5177622.