Name: Lightning Strike in Louisiana, March 20, 2002
Start: 2002-03-20T00:30
End: 2002-03-20T00:30
Location: Louisiana

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 happened

The episode as NWS SHV wrote it up.

Lightning hit a vocational school doing minor electrical damage.

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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 19, 8:00 PM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 19, 8:00 PM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
800 PM CST TUE MAR 19 2002

UPDATED THE ZONES FOR WS 32. ALSO INCREASED POPS FOR AREAS WHERE
CONVECTION IS CURRENTLY INCREASING.  LOOKS LIKE A BUSY OVERNIGHT...
05

.SHV...FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY
       ARZ50-51-59>61-70-71-OKZ77-TXZ96-97-108>112

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 19, 11:20 PM CST, 1 hour 10 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT, LA
1120 PM CST TUE MAR 19 2002

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

1045 PM    TYLER                     TX   WIND DAMAGE
03/19/02   SMITH                          TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN
                                          REPORTED BY SPOTTER

1050 PM    3 E LINDALE               TX   WIND DAMAGE
03/19/02   SMITH                          TREES DOWN BLOCKING FM16
                                          REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

1050 PM    S LINDALE                 TX   WIND DAMAGE
03/19/02   SMITH                          TREES DOWN BLOCKING COUNTY
                                          ROAD SEVERAL MILES SOUTH OF
                                          TOWN                                     REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT
                                          REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

1110 PM    6 E LONGVIEW              TX   WIND DAMAGE
03/19/02   HARRISON                       2 FT DIAMETER TREE DOWN ACROSS
                                          COUNTRY CLUB DR NEAR LOOP 281
                                          REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

Local storm report, Mar 20, 12:20 AM CST, 10 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT, LA
1220 AM CST WED MAR 20 2002

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

1045 PM    7 N GILMER                TX   WIND DAMAGE
03/19/02   UPSHUR                         TREES DOWN ON US 271 NEAR
                                          FM 593
                                          REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT                                      ENFORCEMENT

1110 PM    2 S HARLETON              TX   WIND DAMAGE
03/19/02   HARRISON                       TREES DOWN ON STATE HWY
                                          450 JUST SOUTH OF LITTLE
                                          CYPRESS BAYOU BRIDGE
                                          REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:32 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Caddo

When: March 20, 12:30 AM CST
Where: Caddo County, Shreveport
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 32.580, -93.882 (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 Louisiana in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Louisiana, March 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: 5281192.