Name: Lightning Strike in Arkansas, July 26, 2001
Start: 2001-07-26T19:00
End: 2001-07-26T19:00
Location: Arkansas

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: 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 LZK wrote it up.

Lightning struck an oak tree in front of a business in Camden, with debris from the tree scattered for several hundred feet. Some of the debris broke windows in a few delivery trucks owned by the business.

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 Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 26, 2:15 PM CST, 4 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 26, 2:15 PM CST, 4 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
315 PM CDT THU JUL 26 2001

SCATTERED SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPED THIS AFTERNOON...MAINLY
OVER NORTH/CENTRAL ARKANSAS. LOOKS LIKE MORE RAIN COMING IN THE NEXT
FEW DAYS.

HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL REMAIN OVER REGION...BUT IT HAS WEAKENED
SLOWLY THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS. THIS HAS ALLOWED A COLD FRONT TO
SLIDE INTO NORTHERN ARKANSAS FROM MISSOURI. MEANWHILE...TROPICAL
MOISTURE WAS BUILDING TO THE SOUTH/SOUTHEAST...AND WILL HELP MOISTEN
ATMOSPHERE A BIT FURTHER.

WITH THE FRONT IN NORTHERN ARKANSAS AND WITH MOISTURE IN
PLACE...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN THE FORECAST
THROUGH THE WEEKEND. WITH MORE CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION...
TEMPERATURES WILL NOT BE QUITE AS HOT AS IN PREVIOUS DAYS.

BY EARLY NEXT WEEK...FRONT WILL HAVE MOVED BACK TO THE NORTH. IT
APPEARS THAT THE HIGH WILL STRENGTHEN AGAIN...WITH THE HEAT
RETURNING. (46)

.LIT...NONE

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 26, 3:25 PM CST, 3 hours 35 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
425 PM CDT THU JUL 26 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0305 PM    5 W BLACK SPGS            AR   WIND DAMAGE
07/26/01   MONTGOMERY                     TREES DOWN ALONG OR
                                          NEAR HIGHWAY 8. POWER
                                          ALSO OUT IN THE AREA.
                                          REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT.

46

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 150 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:00 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Ouachita

When: July 26, 7:00 PM CST
Where: Ouachita County, Camden
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 33.593, -92.882 (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

More

Every storm in Arkansas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Arkansas, July 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: 5262386.