Flash Flood and Lightning Strike in Rhode Island, May 29, 2001

Name: Flash Flood and Lightning Strike in Rhode Island, May 29, 2001
Start: 2001-05-29T15:45
End: 2001-05-29T19:00
Location: Rhode Island

May 29, 2001 · NWS BOX · 2 events in 1 county or zone

A cluster of thunderstorms dumped torrential rainfall and small hail in a narrow corridor of Glocester, causing a washout at the intersection of Route 102 and Snake Hill Road. In Johnston, lightning struck a tree, then traveled to a nearby house causing a pair of windows to blow out.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: 0
Property damage: $25,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

A cluster of thunderstorms dumped torrential rainfall and small hail in a narrow corridor of Glocester, causing a washout at the intersection of Route 102 and Snake Hill Road. Rainfall rates exceeded 2 inches per hour in a 10-mile wide corridor in the hilly terrain of western and central Providence County.In Johnston, lightning struck a tree, then traveled to a nearby house causing a pair of windows to blow out. A 4-foot long piece of the tree pierced the screen of a basement door. There were no injuries.

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 29, 1:25 PM EST, 2 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 29, 1:25 PM EST, 2 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
225 PM EDT TUE MAY 29 2001

DISC:  AMS IS BCMG INCRSNGLY UNSTABL ACRS FA THIS AFTN AND CNVTCN
HAS BEGUN TO DVLP FM ERN PA INTO LWR HUD VLY WHERE BEST LL CONV
EXISTS AHEAD OF CDFNT.  MSAS ANLYS INDCTS GRTST INSTABY LIES OVR SE
PA ATTM BUT IS ALIGNED NEWD INTO NYC...SRN CT AND CNTRL RI.

WE THINK THE SCTD ACTVTY OVR LWR HUD VLY WL CONT E INTO CT AS IT
REMAINS ON EDGE OF INSTABY AXIS AND GETS SOME ADDTL SUPPORT FM LL
CONV AHEAD OF FNT...BUT SHUDN'T GET INTO RI OR SE MA WHERE MDLS SHOW
A FAIR AMT OF CIN DUE TO LL SW FLO OFF OCEAN.  ADDTL SCTD ACTVTY MAY
DVLP ACRS WRN AND NRN ZNS LATE THIS AFTN AND EVE...THO W FLO MAY
LIMIT LL CONV AND OVRALL CNVCTV POTL...SPCLY WITH MARGINAL INSTABY.
HWVR BUFKIT SOUNDGS SHOW CAP ERODING BY ERLY EVE WITH THIN LYR OF
CAPE XTNDG THRU H5.  NOT LOOKG FOR ANY SVR OR WDSPRD CNVTCN AS BEST
UPR SUPPORT REMAINS FAR TO N AND ALSO TO S OF FA...AND MORE WDSPRD
ACTVTY TO OUR S MAY EVENTUALLY ROB WHAT AVBL LL MOISTR THERE IS.

TYPICAL NW FLO REGIME TAKES OVR WED AS DEEP UPR TROF MOVS ACRS NRN
NEW ENG.  DESPITE LL DRYING...COLD POOL ALF SHUD CREATE ENUF INSTAB
FOR SCTD LO TOPPED SHWRS/TSTMS WED AFTN (STORM TOPS AOB 10KFT)...
PRIMARILY IN SW NH AND NRN MA WHERE GRTST INSTABY EXISTS AS TT'S RISE
INTO LWR 50S.  LO FRZG LVLS ALSO SUGGEST POTL FOR SMALL HAIL.  XPCT
CU TO BLOSSOM OVR MOST OF FA ONCE CNVCTV TMPS ARE REACHED ARND
MIDDAY...SO WL HAVE A SUNNY START THEN A MOCLDY AFTN IN ZNS.  WL KEEP
MNTN OF PCPN OUT FOR NOW FARTHER S AND E.  GUID TMPS LOOK A LTL WARM
BASED UPON THCKNS VALUES AND WL UNDERCUT BY A FEW DEGS.

AS UPR TROF PULLS OUT WED NGT...XPCT CLDNS TO DIMINISH RAPIDLY...THEN
A MOSUNNY AND MILDER DAY THU AS SFC RDG BLDS IN.  WND FIELD REMAINS
STG ENUF TO KEEP MNTN OF BRZY IN ZNS THU.

XTNDED:  ACTIVE PATTN INTO WKND AS WE DEAL WITH A COUPLE OF SYS
LIFTING OUT OF OH VLY/GRTLKS...ONE FRI AND ANOTHER ON ITS HEELS
SAT.  PATTN REMAINS PROGRESSIVE ENUF THAT SUN MAY BE DRY...THEN A
WARMUP IN RESPONSE TO BLDG HGTS AS WE APCH DAY7.

MARINE:  WL HDLN SCA MAY BE REQD WED IN ALL WATERS IN STG CAA PATTN.

.BOX...SCA MAY BE REQD WED ALL 6CSTL WATERS.

JWD

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, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Providence

When: May 29, 3:45 PM EST
Where: Providence County, Johnston
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 41.871, -71.579 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Providence

When: May 29, 6:00 PM EST to 7:00 PM EST
Where: Providence County, Glocester
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 41.871, -71.579 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.
Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Rhode Island in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Rhode Island, 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: 5243508, 5243507.