Name: Lightning Strike in Maine, August 16, 2002
Start: 2002-08-16T19:45
End: 2002-08-16T19:45
Location: Maine

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: $3,000
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 GYX wrote it up.

Lightning ignited a fire that destroyed a 10 by 12 foot storage shed in the town of Kennebunk.

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 Gray, ME wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 16, 7:45 PM EST, 0 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 16, 7:45 PM EST, 0 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
845 PM EDT FRI AUG 16 2002

PUBLIC: CONVECTION HAS BEEN SLOWLY DYING OUT ACROSS FORECAST
AREA...BUT STILL RATHER LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS WITH FEW TSTMS OVER
NORTHERN NEW YORK HEADING EASTWARD.  EXPECT THIS CONVECTION TO
WEAKEN AS IT MOVES EASTWARD OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS.  WILL
UPDATE FORECAST TO CONTINUE CHC OF SHOWER THROUGH MIDNIGHT WITH
PATCHY FOG DEVELOPING AFTER MIDNIGHT.

MARINE: AREAS OF FOG ADDED TO FCST FOR OVERNIGHT PERIOD.  WINDS AND
SEAS BELOW SCA.

FCSTID = 8

.GYX...
ME...NONE.
NH...NONE.

JENSENIUS

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 16, 2:34 PM EST, 5 hours 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY, ME
334 PM EDT FRI AUG 16 2002

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

0224 PM    LEBANON                   ME   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/02   YORK                           TREES AND WIRES DOWN
                                          REPORTED BY YORK COUNTY
                                          EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

0230 PM    2 NW SANFORD              ME   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/02   YORK                           WIRES DOWN IN SPRINGVALE
                                          REPORTED BY SPOTTERS

0305 PM    ARUNDEL                   ME   .75 INCH HAIL
08/16/02   YORK                           REPORTED BY
SPOTTERS

WHEELER

Local storm report, Aug 16, 5:50 PM EST, 1 hour 55 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY, ME
650 PM EDT FRI AUG 16 2002

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

0505 PM    CHARLESTOWN               NH   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/02   SULLIVAN                       LARGE LIMBS AND POWERLINES
                                          BLOWN DOWN. REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

0230 PM    SANFORD                   ME   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/02   YORK                           WIND DOWNED POWER LINES
                                          AND BRANCHES. REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT

0250 PM    ARUNDEL                   ME   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/02   YORK                           TREES AND POWER LINES
                                          BLOWN DOWN ON LIMERICK AND
                                          CAMPGROUND RD. REPORTED
                                          BY FIRE DEPT.

0255 PM    ARUNDEL                   ME   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/02   YORK                           TREES AND POWER LINES
                                          BLOWN DOWN ON CAMPGROUND RD.
                                          REPORTED BY FIRE DEPT.

ES

The radar

The Portland,ME radar (KGYX), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:45 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, York

When: August 16, 7:45 PM EST
Where: York County, Kennebunk
Property damage: $3,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 43.429, -70.670 (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 Maine in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Maine, 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: 5317291.