Name: Lightning Strike in Indiana, August 13, 2002
Start: 2002-08-13T15:30
End: 2002-08-13T15:30
Location: Indiana

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: $5,000
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 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 Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 13, 2:30 PM EST, 1 hour earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 13, 2:30 PM EST, 1 hour before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
230 PM EST TUE AUG 13 2002

FIRST ROUND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVING NORTHEAST ACROSS THE
AREAS THIS AFTERNOON. ACTIVITY IS IN ADVANCE OF UPPER VORT MAX OVER
CENTRAL ILLINOIS WHICH WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST. MAX WILL EXIT THE
AREA BY EARLY EVENING AND MOST CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WILL PULL
NORTHEAST OF THE CWA BY EARLY EVENING.

THERE WILL PROBABLY BE A BREAK IN THE PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE CWA
TIL 06Z THEN MAIN PRECIPITATION AREA ASSOCIATED WITH FRONT WILL BEGIN
TO EDGE INTO THE AREA. ETA/AVN ARE SIMILAR ON WEDNESDAY WITH HIGH RH
AND POPS ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH THE DAYLIGHT HOURS. HOWEVER ETA
STEADILY SHIFTS HIGH RH EASTWARD WEDNESDAY EVENING INTO OHIO WHILE
AVN SLOWS DOWN MOVEMENT OF HIGHER RH FIELD AND KEEPS GOOD RH ACROSS
THE AREA AT LEAST INTO EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. THINK COMPROMISE BEST
APPROACH SINCE UPPER TROF STILL TO THE WEST BY EARLY WEDNESDAY
EVENING AND HAVE SOME DOUBTS THAT SURFACE FRONT WILL MAKE IN TO
SOUTHEAST INDIANA BEFORE DISSIPATING. LIKELY POPS FROM WED AFTERNOON
WITH CHANCES CONTINUED FOR THE EASTERN 2/3 OF THE AREA INTO EARLY
THURSDAY MORNING.

MAX TEMPERATURES A BIT SUBDUED ON WEDNESDAY BY CLOUD COVER AND
PRECIPITATION WITH HIGHS FROM THE UPPER 70S NORTHERN AREAS TO THE
LOWER 80S SOUTH. FAST RECOVERY TO VERY WARM READINGS BY FRIDAY WITH
MAXES AGAIN REACHING THE UPPER 80S TO NEAR 90.

.IND...NONE.
RPG

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 13, 1:52 PM EST, 1 hour 38 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
152 PM EST TUE AUG 13 2002

TIME(EST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0149 PM    ALEXANDRIA                IN   65 MPH TSTM GUST
08/13/02   MADISON                        REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
                                          OPERATOR.

Local storm report, Aug 13, 2:05 PM EST, 1 hour 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
205 PM EST TUE AUG 13 2002

TIME(EST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0152 PM    ALEXANDRIA                IN   WIND DAMAGE
08/13/02   MADISON                        TREES AND POWER LINES
                                          DOWN. REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

Local storm report, Aug 13, 3:08 PM EST, 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
308 PM EST TUE AUG 13 2002

TIME(EST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0257 PM    1 W BEAN BLOSSOM          IN   WIND DAMAGE
08/13/02   BROWN                          TREE DOWN. REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

The radar

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:30 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Johnson

When: August 13, 3:30 PM EST
Where: Johnson County, Franklin
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.490, -86.102 (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 Indiana in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Indiana, 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: 5309989.