Lightning Strike in Vermont, June 27, 2002

Name: Lightning Strike in Vermont, June 27, 2002
Start: 2002-06-27T20:30
End: 2002-06-27T20:30
Location: Vermont

June 27, 2002 · NWS BTV · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A cold front approached the region during the late afternoon and evening from Canada. Showers and thunderstorms developed during the afternoon hours and continued into the evening.

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: $50,000
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 BTV wrote it up.

A cold front approached the region during the late afternoon and evening from Canada. Showers and thunderstorms developed during the afternoon hours and continued into the evening. Lightning struck and destroyed (fire) a barn and part of an old farmhouse in the Springfield, Vt area.

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 Burlington, VT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 27, 6:20 PM EST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 27, 6:20 PM EST, 2 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT
720 PM EDT THU JUN 27 2002

MESOSCALE W-E BNDRY ACRS ADRNDKS INTO CNTRL VT PROVIDING FOCUS FOR
TRAINING TSTMS ACRS W ADRNDKS.  RADAR RAFL ESTIMATES INDCT UP TO
2.5 RAFL SNC LT TAFTN.  S/WV TROF AXIS AND ASSCD CDNFT STILL
HANGING BACK ACRS ERN GT LKS AND SFC FROPA XPCTD 03Z-09Z ACRS FA.
CONTD SW FLOW ALF UNTIL THEN...HI PW/S...MESO BNDRY ACRS FA TO
INTERACT WITH APCHG SYNOP BNDRY ALL POINT TO MORE RAFL INTO ERLY
MRNG HRS SO WL CONT FLOOD WATCH.

WL MAKE SOME MINOR FIRST PD CHGS AND LKLY DROP POPS FOR FRI AM AS IT
APRS ANY RA WL HAV MOVD OUT OF RGN BY THEN.

.BTV...FLOOD WATCH TNGT VTZ002>012-NYZ028-031-034-035.

KJC

The radar

The Burlington radar (KCXX), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:29 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Windsor

When: June 27, 8:30 PM EST
Where: Windsor County, Springfield
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 43.580, -72.586 (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

Every storm in Vermont in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Vermont, June 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: 5306473.