A lightning bolt struck a communications tower in Wentworth and traveled through electrical wires into the dispatch building and struck three operators through their headsets. They were treated for minor injuries.
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.
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 episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.
A lightning bolt struck a communications tower in Wentworth and traveled through electrical wires into the dispatch building and struck three operators through their headsets. They were treated for minor injuries.
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 131 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:58 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Three dispatchers in Wentworth were struck by lightning through their headsets.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Virginia in 2000Every state in 2000This day in weather historyWarnings in Virginia, June 2000
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: 5153199.