Florida, 2001

Lightning Strike in Florida, September 8, 2001

September 8, 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
2
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 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 Sep 8, 10:47 AM CST, 1 hour 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 8, 10:47 AM CST, 1 hour 13 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
1147 AM CDT SAT SEP 8 2001

AREA RADARS BEGINNING TO LIGHT UP LATE THIS MORNING AS EARLY SUN HAS
ERODED CAP IN MODERATE UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT.  SPLIT ZONES FROM WEST
TO EAST IN ORDER TO REFLECT INCREASE IN RAIN CHANCES (70 PERCENT)
OVER THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE CWFA.  SKEW-T ANALYSIS OVER THE CWFA
PUTS STORM MOTION FROM THE SOUTHWEST AT ONLY 10 TO 15 MPH.  THE SLOW
MOVEMENT OF THE STORMS IN COMBINATION WITH PW NEAR TWO INCHES COULD
LEAD TO LOCALIZED FLOODING PROBLEMS LATER THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS
SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI AND SOUTHWEST ALABAMA...SO WILL HAVE TO
MONITOR CLOSELY.  NO OTHER CHANGES MADE TO REMAINDER OF FORECAST.

/22

.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, Escambia

When
September 8, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Escambia County, Pensacola Beach
Deaths
2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
30.614, -87.341 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Two women were killed by lightning near Pensacola Beach at the Fort Pickens State Park. The women were walking side by side on the beach as a thunderstorm moved ashore from the Gulf of Mexico. The storm had not previously been producing much lightning activity, and the women were casually walking to shelter when the bolt struck them. Both women, who were from the local area, were killed instantly.

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.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Lightning, Escambia2001-09-0843FemaleOutside/Open AreasDirect
Lightning, Escambia2001-09-0850FemaleOutside/Open AreasDirect

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 Florida in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, 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: 5268220.