Name: Lightning Strike in Pennsylvania, May 26, 2001
Start: 2001-05-26T05:30
End: 2001-05-26T05:30
Location: Pennsylvania

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: $500,000
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 PHI wrote it up.

A lightning strike ignited an apartment building fire in the Plymouth Gardens Apartment in Plymouth Township. The ensuing fire completely destroyed four units and damaged the remaining dozen units in the building. About 40 people were made homeless by the fire and three families were sheltered. No serious injuries were reported.

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 Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 26, 2:10 AM EST, 3 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 26, 2:10 AM EST, 3 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
310 AM EDT SAT MAY 26 2001

DISC: UPPER LVL LOW OVER THE GREAT LAKES REGION FORECAST TO STAY PUT
THROUGH MOST OF THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND WITH VORT MAX/S MOVING ACROSS
THE CWA WITH THE GENERAL FLOW. AS A RESULT...CLOUDY SKIES WILL BE
THE RULE FOR A LOT OF THE TIME. HOWEVER SUNSHINE IS POSSIBLE
ESPECIALLY ON SUN AND THE WEEKEND WON/T BE A TOTAL WASHOUT SINCE
PRECIPITATION WON/T BE FALLING ALL THE TIME. THUNDERSTORMS ARE
POSSIBLE TODAY AND SUN...BUT MOST PARAMETERS ARE NOT SHOWING
CONDITIONS TOO FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE WEATHER. HAVE GONE WITH LIKELY
POPS IN MOST LOCATIONS TODAY AND TONIGHT...WITH CHANCE POPS ON
SUN...MAINLY LATER IN THE DAY OR IN THE EVENING HOURS. FLOODING
CANNOT BE RULED OUT BUT WILL BE MORE ISOLATED THAN WIDESPREAD IF IT
DEVELOPS. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS STILL POSSIBLE ON MON BUT THERE
COULD ALSO BE A FEW PEAKS OF SUN THROUGH THE CLOUDS SO HAVE GONE
WITH LESS PESSIMISTIC WORDING BY USING VARIABLE CLOUDINESS RATHER
THAN MOSTLY CLOUDY IN THE FIRST DAY OF THE EXTENDED.

DID NOT STRAY TOO FAR FROM MOS TEMP GUIDANCE IN THIS PACKAGE.

NO MAJOR CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED FIN THIS PACKAGE.

NOTHING ON THE MARINE AT THE CURRENT TIME...AND NOT EXPECTING ANYTHING
IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

.PHI...NONE.

JJM

The radar

The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:28 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Montgomery

When: May 26, 5:30 AM EST
Where: Montgomery County, Plymouth Meeting
Property damage: $500,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.211, -75.367 (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 Pennsylvania in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, 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: 5244841.