Name: Lightning Strike in Alabama, August 5, 2002
Start: 2002-08-05T13:15
End: 2002-08-05T13:15
Location: Alabama

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 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 Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 5, 10:25 AM CST, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 10:25 AM CST, 2 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
1125 AM CDT MON AUG 5 2002

TD BERTHA NOW NOTED NEAR THE MS/LA LINE NORTH OF LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN.
AS WAS THE CASE YESTERDAY...TYPICAL DIURNAL OSCILLATION BEING SEEN
WITH THE OUTER BAND ON THE EAST SIDE BECOMING QUITE DEVELOPED GIVING
OUR EASTERN ZONES QUITE A DOUSING.  BERTHA ALL ALONG HAS PRESENTED
US WITH SUPRISES...GOING FURTHER NORTH THAN WHAT GUIDANCE AND
FORECASTS HAD GIVEN...AND STILL WE NOTE A NORTHWARD (ALBEIT IT
SOMEWHAT SLOWER) PUSH OF THE CENTER INTO THE HEART OF THE RIDGE.

WILL MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENTS TO FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONFIGURATION...
EXPANDING IT ALONG THE COAST TO INCLUDE MOBILE AND OKALOOSA
COUNTIES...AND INLAND INTO SOUTH CENTRAL ALABAMA.  SLOW MOVING HEAVY
BAND OVER JACKSON COUNTY MISSISSIPPI WILL MOVE SLOWLY ACROSS MOBILE
COUNTY TODAY.  HEAVY RAINS OVER THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND INLAND
WILL PRESENT THE MORE LIKELY PROBLEMS WITH LARGER AREA OF PERSISTENT
HEAVY RAINS.  THE LARGE OUTER BAND TO THE EAST SHOULD WEAKEN THIS
EVENING...AND WE SHOULD SEE HEAVY PRECIP BECOME MORE CONCENTRATED
CLOSER TO THE CENTER OVER SOUTHERN MS TONIGHT.  RIGHT NOW WILL HOLD
OFF ON A FLASH FLOOD WATCH OVER SOUTHEAST MS.  MAY HAVE TO CHANGE
OUR THINKING ON THAT LATER TODAY...WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR.

FURTHER SOUTH...WE BROUGHT DOWN THE COASTAL FLOOD WATCH.  MINOR
FLOODING PROBLEMS (COMBINATION MAINLY OF HEAVY EARLY MORNING RAINS)
ON WEST END OF DAUPHIN ISLAND SUBSIDING.  TIDES RUNNING JUST OVER A
FOOT ABOVE NORMAL AT HIGH TIDE LATE THIS MORNING.  AS BERTHA MOVED
INLAND AND WEAKENED...WINDS HAVE DROPPED OFF A BIT OVER THE COASTAL
WATERS.  WILL MAINTAIN SMALL CRAFT EXERCISE CAUTION WORDING...BUT
HAVE BROUGHT DOWN THE ACTUAL SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY.  THAT IS NOT TO
SAY WE WONT GET SOME GUSTY WINDS TO NEAR 30 KNOTS IN SQUALLS.  STILL
NOT A GOOD DAY FOR BOATING.

/05

.MOB...
AL...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH EARLY EVENING ALZ055-056-059-060>064.
FL...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH EARLY EVENING FLZ001>006.
MS...NONE.

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, Mobile

When: August 5, 1:15 PM CST
Where: Mobile County, (Mob)mobile Bates Fl
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 30.685, -88.197 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Two men suffered electrical shock from a lightning strike while pushing a plane into a hangar at the airport. The two men were pushing the plane into a hangar after a thunderstorm had moved out of the area. The strike hit a grassy area near them and ran across the wet tarmac and knocked them down. The grass where the strike occurred was smoking from the strike. The two men were taken to a local hospital where they were treated and released. The men were likely hit by the last strike from a storm that had moved across the airport earlier.

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 Alabama in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Alabama, August 2002

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: 5314726.