Alabama, 2001

Lightning Strike in Alabama, May 30, 2001

May 30, 2001 · NWS MOB · 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
0
Injuries
1
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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 30, 9:36 AM CST, 2 hours 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 30, 9:36 AM CST, 2 hours 59 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
1036 AM CDT WED MAY 30 2001

A MODIFIED SOUNDING OF EXPECTED CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON REVEAL
NEAR 3000 CAPES...1.8 PWS AND LITTLE/NO CAP.  LATEST SURFACE CHART
SHOWS A WEAK BOUNDARY ACROSS THE COASTAL SECTIONS THAT SHOULD
GRADUALLY CRAWL NORTHWARD THIS AFTERNOON...ESPECIALLY FROM BALDWIN
COUNTY WESTWARD WHERE BEST RETURN FLOW WILL SET UP.  MODELS AND
LATEST WV LOOP SHOW SLIGHT RIDGING IN UPPER LEVELS.  LACK OF UPPER
SUPPORT WILL LEAVE AFTERNOON RAIN CHANCES UP TO DAYTIME HEATING AND
WEAK FORCING ALONG THE BOUNDARY.  WILL CONTINUE WITH 30 PERCENT POPS
OVER THE WESTERN SECTIONS AND UP THE COASTAL FROM 20 TO 30 PERCENT.
THE NE 20S WILL SUFFICE.  OTHERWISE...REST OF FCST IS ON TRACK.  39

.MOB...
AL...NONE.
FL...NONE.
MS...NONE.

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, Mobile

When
May 30, 12:35 PM CST
Where
Mobile County, Prichard
Injuries
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
30.685, -88.197 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Just a few miles from where the above lightning strike occurred, another strike injured a 25 year old male while he was on the telephone. He was sitting in a barbers chair, talking on the phone when he was struck. The strike knocked the man unconscious; he woke up about 45 minutes later in the hospital. Other than the short period of unconsciousness, followed by soreness in his body, the strike victim was apparently otherwise uninjured. He was checked out at the hospital and released.

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

More

Every storm in Alabama in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, May 2001

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: 5245120.