Name: Lightning Strike in Massachusetts, August 14, 2002
Start: 2002-08-14T15:00
End: 2002-08-14T15:00
Location: Massachusetts

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: 0
Property damage: $15,000
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 BOX wrote it up.

Lightning struck a large tree in Buckland, causing a portion of it to fall onto a nearby home.

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 Aug 14, 1:40 PM EST, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 14, 1:40 PM EST, 1 hour 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
240 PM EDT WED AUG 14 2002

...HOT AND STICKY WX LKLY TO LAST INTO THE UPCOMING WEEKEND...

.SHORT TERM (THIS EVE-THU DAY)...
WDLY SCT TSRA BRKG THRU WRM LYR AT 15K ALG AND N/W OF MHT-FIT-CEF-DXR
LN XPCTD UNTIL 01Z OR 02Z.  ALTHO SFC HTG HELPING TRIGGER ACTIVITY
NOW OVR CATSKILLS...HI DWPTS MAY KEEP TSRA GOING FOR A LTL WHILE AFT
SUNSET.  WILL HAV TO WATCH FOR ISOLD PULSE SVR.  OTRW...ANOTHER VRY
WARM AND HUMID NGT WITH PTCHY FOG/HZ.

FOR THU...BUMPED INTR TEMPS UP A LTL FM PREV FCST BUT STILL NOT QUITE
AS HI AS TODAY. BOTH AVN AND MESOETA SHOW ABT 2C LESS AT H85.
THUS...PRBLY A LTL BLO HEAT ADVSY RANGE.  AS FAR AS CONVCTN...
MESOETA WASHES SFC TROF OUT JUST W OF NEW ENGLAND 00Z.  HIER SBCAPE
OVER 2000 NW THIRD AREA THU AFTN WITH LESS OF A WRM LYR TO BRK THRU
AT 15K.  ALTHO STILL NO CLR SUSTAINED FORCING MOVG INTO SNE...BELIEVE
WORTH A LOW CHC MENTION ALG AND W OF MHT-ORH-IJD LN THU AFTN GIVEN
INSTBLTY AND HINT OF SFC TROF AND DAMPENING H50 S/W TROF ON MESOETA.
WINDS REL LGT ALOFT BUT ONCE AGAIN RISK OF AN ISOLD STG-SVR PULSE
TSTM OR TWO.
THOMPSON

.LONG TERM (THU EVE THRU WED)...
NEXT 3-8 DAYS SHOULD FEATURE A VERY SLOW SUPPRESSION OF UPR RDG AND
HIGH HGHTS ACRS THE FA BUT SLOW IS THE KEY WORD.

MDLS GENERALLY CONSISTANT WITH FIRST CDFNT DUE IN FRI.  UPR RDG
HOLDS STRONG AS UPR JET REMAINS WELL NW OF FA.  CDFNT MAKES A RUN AT
FA FRI BUT LIKELY TO WEAKEN AS IT REACHES THE COAST.  HARD TO
PINPOINT BEST AREA FOR TSRA THUS CHC POPS ACRS THE REGION FROM THU
NIGHT THRU FRI NIGHT AS FRNT STALLS THEN DISSIPATES.

SAT WL SEE LOTS OF LEFT OVR CLDS BUT HIGH TDS/HUMID WX TO CONTINUE.
LCL ONSHR WNDS WL KEEP COAST COOLER.  WL DISCOUNT THE WIDESPD PCPN
INDICATED BY AVN FOR SAT MORNING AND WL ONLY LINGER A CHC OVR
CAPE/ISL EARLY SAT.

STRNGR CDFNT DUE IN SUN AFTN.  MDLS DO SUGGEST CHC OF PCPN NEAR
DAYBREAK SUN FROM ONE IMPLUSE THEN ORGANIZED TSRA ALONG FRONT LATE
SUN PM AND SUN NIGHT.  SHOULD THEN SEE DRYING AND AT LEAST RETURN
TO SOMEWHAT MORE SEASONABLE TEMPS THRU MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK THOUGH
ENSEMBLES DO KEEP HGHTS/850 TMPS A BIT ABV NORMAL.
VALLEE

.BOX...
CT...NONE.
MA...NONE.
NH...NONE.
RI...NONE.
MARINE...NONE.

DRV/RMT

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 121 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:00 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Franklin

When: August 14, 3:00 PM EST
Where: Franklin County, Buckland
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.583, -72.592 (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 Massachusetts in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Massachusetts, 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: 5312944.