Name: Lightning Strike in Massachusetts, May 27, 2001
Start: 2001-05-27T05:30
End: 2001-05-27T05:30
Location: Massachusetts

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: 2
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 BOX wrote it up.

Lightning struck several homes, trees, and radio towers across Cape Cod during the early morning. Two people in Eastham were injured when lightning struck their house as they slept, and passed through their bed.

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 Boston/Norton, MA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 27, 2:30 AM EST, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 27, 2:30 AM EST, 3 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
330 AM EDT SUN MAY 27 2001

...COMPLEX WX PATTERN CONTS FOR SNE...

CRNTLY...AREA OF +SHRA/+TSRA OVER ERN PART OF CWA CONTS TO LIFT SLWLY
N-NE WITH CONT REDEVELOPMENT TO THE S.  ACRS THE CNTRL AND WRN PART
OF THE CWA...JUST A FEW WDLY SCT -SHRA. ACRS THE HUDSON VLY AND NRN
NJ THERE IS A BLOB OF SHRA/TSRA...WHICH IS MVG N-NE. THEN THERE IS
ANOTHER AREA OF SHWRS AND STORMS OFF THE SRN NJ COAST WHICH IS MVG
NE TWRD SOME PART OF SNE.

NOW...WHAT TO FORECAST?  FIRST AREA OF PCPN ACRS THE ERN PART OF
CWA SHLD MAKE ITS WAY N AND E OF THE AREA BY 10-11Z...XCPT FOR THE
CAPE AND ISLDS AS MORE SHWRS DVLP ON THE SRN END.   AREA OF PCPN IN
HUDSON VLY SHLD MAINLY STAY W OF THE WRN PART OF THE CWA...THOUGH WE
WL LKLY SEE CONT SPOTTY SHWR ACTIVITY IN MOIST AIRMASS. LKS TO ME
LIKE THE AREA OF PCPN E OF THE MID ATLC COAST WILL CONT TO MVE NE
AHEAD OF UP LVL VRT SWINGING OFF THE COAST.  THE MDLS FCST THIS
VORT TO MVE ACRS THE ERN THIRD OF CWA I HV TO IMAGINE WE WL SEE
ANOTHER ROUND OF SHWRS AND TSTMS ACRS RI AND ERN MA THIS AM.
I AM PRBLY GETTING TO FANCY HERE BUT WL GO WITH CAT POPS IN THE E
FOR THIS AM AND CHC THIS AFTN.  IN THE WEST WL GO WITH CHC POPS THIS
AM AND LIKELY THIS AFTN.  I M

NXT PRBLM...ONCE THE VORT MVES NE OF THE FA AREA MID DAY...MDLS SHW
DRYING FM ABOVE BUT STILL A LOT OF MOIST IN THE LOWEST 2K FT.  WITH
A CONT SE FLOW AND LL INVERSION...WL WE BE ABLE TO GET AT LEAST A
FEW BRKS OF SS THIS AFTN.  I THINK WE STAY CLDY TO MSTLY CLOUDY IN
THE E...BUT SHLD GET SOME SS IN THE WRN PART OF CWA.  WITH THE
SUN...WE SHLD SEE TEMPS NR 70 AND DEW PTS ARND 60...ATMOS SHLD BE
UNSTABLE ENOUGH TO POP A FEW MORE SHWRS AND STORMS.  WET BULB ZERO
IS FCST TO BE AROUND 8K FT IN THE W SO WL HAVE TO WATCH FOR
THE PSBLTY OF HAIL...ALTHOUGH I WL NOT MENTION IT IN THE FCST AT
THIS TIME.

ANY SHWRS AND STORMS SHLD END THIS EVENING WITH CLOUDY TO MSTLY CLDY
SKIES DURG THE OVRNGT.  WE SHLD GET INTO ANTHR ROUND OF PCPN ON MON
AS A VT MAX ASSOC WITH THE UPR LOW MVES ACRS THE NE.

MARINE...NO HEADLINES REQUIRED.

.BOX...NONE.

NOTCHEY

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, Barnstable

When: May 27, 5:30 AM EST
Where: Barnstable County, Eastham
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 41.684, -70.274 (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 Massachusetts in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Massachusetts, 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: 5243494.