Name: Lightning Strike in Louisiana, July 22, 2001
Start: 2001-07-22T15:00
End: 2001-07-22T15:00
Location: Louisiana

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $15,000
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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 22, 2:15 PM CST, 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 22, 2:15 PM CST, 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
315 PM CDT SUN JUL 22 2001

THE BIG FORECAST QUESTION IS THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY. HOW FAR WEST WILL
THE HIGHER DEW POINTS GET AND HOW MUCH HOTTER WITH THE TEMPERATURES
GET? THE UPPER HIGH DOES SEEM TO BECOME SOMEWHAT DISORGANIZED IN THE
SHORT TERM...HOWEVER...I DO NOT SEE ANY BIG ENOUGH CHANGES TO KEEP
OUR TEMPERATURES FROM REACHING THEIR HEIGHTS OF LATE. THEREFORE...I
HAVE DECIDED TO EXTEND THE HEAT ADVISORY OUT TILL TUESDAY...AND I
WILL ADD THE MY REMAINDERING PARISHES IN N LA. WILL ALSO ADD REST OF
SW AR...PORTIONS OF EXTREME NE TX...AND MCCURTAIN IN SE OK. AS
STATED BEFORE...ONLY SLIGHT CHANCES AT BEST FOR ANY RAINFALL TO HELP
GIVE SOME RELIEF THIS WEEK. IT WILL BE HIT OR MISS WITH BEST CHANCES
OVER THE E SECTIONS...AS THE HEAT IS ONLY BEGINNING. WILL STICK WITH
PERSISTENCE FOR TEMPERATURES...THIS TIME OF YEAR.

PRELIMS...

SHV 076/100 075/100 075 1101
MLU 074/097 074/097 075 2202
TXK 075/099 075/099 075 1101
TYR 074/099 074/099 075 0000
LFK 073/098 073/098 074 1102

20

.SHV...HEAT ADVISORY EXPANDED AND EXTENDED FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY
FOR NORTHERN 1/3 AND EASTERN 1/2 OF AREA...
...ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077-
TXZ096-097-112...

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 22, 9:30 AM CST, 5 hours 30 minutes before

ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077-TXZ096-
097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-221630-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
1030 AM CDT SUN JUL 22 2001

HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS IN CONTROL OF THE AREA WEATHER PATTERN. MUGGY
SURFACE CONDITIONS COULD ALLOW FOR WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT DURING THE AFTERNOON...ACROSS THE EASTERN SECTIONS OF
THE FOUR STATES REGION. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED.

THE ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS...STORM SPOTTERS...AND SKYWARN
NETWORKS...WILL NOT BE REQUIRED TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT.

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, Red River

When: July 22, 3:00 PM CST
Where: Red River County, 3 mi ESE of Coushatta
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 32.093, -93.340 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning set a storage shed afire and brought firefighters from four departments to the scene. The owner and her son were inside the home when lightning struck a nearby utility pole and in her words, "A ball of electricity ran along the wire to the shed." The shed was fully afire in spite of a heavy downpour and could not be saved. Also ruined were two four0wheelers, a lawn mover, two bicycles and kitchen appliances.

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 Louisiana in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Louisiana, 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: 5256689.