Name: Lightning Strike in New Hampshire, May 30, 2001
Start: 2001-05-30T13:15
End: 2001-05-30T13:15
Location: New Hampshire

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.

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Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
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Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
Property damage: $100,000
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 happened

The episode as NWS GYX wrote it up.

A powerful bolt of lightning injured 1 person and caused damage in the town of Kensington. The lightning apparently struck a utility pole at the driveway to the fire station, then followed wires and pipes to nearby buildings and equipment. The lightning blew a trench in the fire station's parking lot, blew up lantern lights outside the station, and destroyed the department's fire alarm panel. Flying debris damaged the siding on the station. Some rocks from the trench were shot over the roof of the station, breaking wind shields and damaging cars on the other side of the building. The lightning also followed pipes and wires to the nearby town library and elementary school. The school secretary was injured while sitting at her computer when the ligtning struck her and knocked her off her chair. A teacher, who was on the phone at the time, also felt a jolt. Three computers, nine monitors, the water pump, and the phone system were damaged at the school. In the town library, windows were shattered and two computers were damaged.

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 Gray, ME wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 30, 12:56 PM EST, 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 30, 12:56 PM EST, 19 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
156 PM EDT WED MAY 30 2001

UPPER LOW MOVES THROUGH THE MARITIMES THROUGH THU PM WITH HI
PRES RIDGING OVER F/A ERLY FRI FOLLOWED BY NEXT UPPER LOW LATER
FRI INTO WEEKEND.

WILL GO WTH CHC SHWR ACTVTY ERLY EVENING THOUGH SOME DEGREE OF
CLOUDS SHOULD PERSIST OVERNITE.  P/S FOR 2ND PD WITH LEAST AMNT
OF CLDS AND WARMEST TMPS ALONG COAST WITH BRZY NW FLOW.  GNLY
CLR THU NITE WITH MSTmLY SUNNY CONDS FOR FRI THOUGH HIER CLDS
SHOULD APPEAR LATER IN THE DAY IN ADVANCE OF NEXT SYSTEM.

MINIMAL SCA.

.GYX...
ME...SCA.
NH...SCA.

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, Rockingham

When: May 30, 1:15 PM EST
Where: Rockingham County, Kensington
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.985, -71.089 (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 New Hampshire in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in New Hampshire, 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: 5244988.