Connecticut, 2001

Lightning Strike in Connecticut, September 21, 2001

September 21, 2001 · NWS OKX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

During the morning hours of Friday, September 21st, a cold front moved east across southern Connecticut, accompanied by a band of scattered showers and embedded thunderstorms. Some of these thunderstorms produced occasional cloud to ground lightning.

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 OKX wrote it up.

During the morning hours of Friday, September 21st, a cold front moved east across southern Connecticut, accompanied by a band of scattered showers and embedded thunderstorms. Some of these thunderstorms produced occasional cloud to ground lightning. In New Haven County, a home was struck by lightning in Milford around 6:30 AM EDT, which triggered a fire behind insulation in an unfinished basement. The occupants of the house were evacuated, with no injuries reported. The extent of the resultant fire damage to the home was unknown.

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 New York, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 21, 2:35 AM EST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 21, 2:35 AM EST, 2 hours 55 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
335 AM EDT FRI SEP 21 2001

LO OVR GLAKES WILL PUSH NNEWD INTO JAMES BAY LATE SAT. WK SHORT WV
MOV THRU...CUE GIVE US A CHC OF SHWRS TNT. A COLD FRONT WL PUSH THRU
FA LATE SAT. LUKS LIKE IT PUSHES THRU BY 06Z SUN. XNTDD LUKS
INTERESTG WITH STG H5 CUTOFF MOVG INTO THE TN VLY BY H+108. IT LUKS
LIKE THE AVN MAY BE OVRDOING THIS FEATURE. BUT LAST NGTS MRF SHOW
THE UPR LO RMNG NRLY STNRY OVR THE GLAKES. WL KEEP UP SCA FOR RUFF
SEAS FOR ERLY THIS MRNG...STILL RNG ARND 5 FT AT 44025. SEAS WL
SUBSIDE LATR THIS MRNG. WE CUD SEE ANOTHER ROUND OF SHWRS BY 12Z
THIS MRNG. SO WL GO PRETTY MUCH WITH THE ETA AND KEEP IT DRY
TDY...GO WITH A MINIMAL POP TNT AND MINIMAL POPS AGAIN SAT AFTN.

.OKX...
CT...NONE.
NJ...NONE.
NY...NONE.
MARINE...SCA FOR ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS THIS MRNG...ANZ355-353-350.

WOOLDRIDGE

The radar

The Brookhaven radar (KOKX), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:29 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, New Haven

When
September 21, 5:30 AM EST
Where
New Haven County, Milford
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
41.362, -72.844 (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 Connecticut in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Connecticut, September 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: 5267507.