Lightning Strike in Wisconsin, August 17, 2002

Name: Lightning Strike in Wisconsin, August 17, 2002
Start: 2002-08-17T00:20
End: 2002-08-17T00:20
Location: Wisconsin

August 17, 2002 · NWS ARX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Two persons on a camping trip were injured when lightning struck a tree near their tent. The two were sleeping when the lightning hit and one of them had to be revived by use of CPR.

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.

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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: 2
Property damage: None recorded
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 ARX wrote it up.

Two persons on a camping trip were injured when lightning struck a tree near their tent. The two were sleeping when the lightning hit and one of them had to be revived by use of CPR.

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 La Crosse, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 16, 2:05 PM CST, 10 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 16, 2:05 PM CST, 10 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
305 PM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002

FORECAST CONCERN FOR THIS PACKAGE INCLUDES CONVECTIVE TRENDS
TONIGHT...THEN WINDS BEHIND FRONT ON SATURDAY. TEMPERATURES THROUGH
THE PERIOD ALSO A CONCERN.

12Z UPPER AIR DATA ANALYSIS SHOWED VIGOROUS SHORTWAVE IN
NORTHWESTERN MONTANA...WITH 110 KNOT JET INTO BASE OF TROUGH. 18Z
WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS THIS WAVE ALREADY PUSHING THROUGH EASTERN
MONTANA. 18Z SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS DEEPENING LOW PRESSURE ALONG THE
WYOMING/MONTANA BORDER...WITH WARM FROM EXTENDING SOUTHEASTWARD
THROUGH SOUTH DAKOTA/NORTHEAST NEBRASKA INTO WESTER IOWA. CONVECTION
ALREADY DEVELOPING ALONG THIS BOUNDARY FROM THE DAKOTAS INTO WESTERN
IOWA AND SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA.

12Z MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH HANDLING OF SURFACE AND UPPER
LEVEL FEATURES...WITH ONLY MINOR DIFFERENCES IN THE RESPECTIVE QPF
FIELDS.

STRONG SHORTWAVE WILL TRANSLATE INTO MINNESOTA TONIGHT AND
THEN INTO ONTARIO ON SATURDAY. CORRESPONDING SURFACE LOW WILL TRACK
INTO NORTHERN MINNESOTA AND THEN NORTHEAST INTO CANADA ON SATURDAY.
ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH THE AREA LATE TONIGHT AND
THEN SWEEP THROUGH THE AREA SATURDAY MORNING. LOW LEVEL JET ALREADY
RATHER STRONG ACROSS THE PLAINS AND SHOULD INCREASE LATER TONIGHT
AHEAD OF APPROACHING SYSTEM. STRONG MOISTURE TRANSPORT NOSES INTO
SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA THIS EVENING AND INTO WESTERN WISCONSIN BY
MIDNIGHT. AS WARM FRONT LIFTS NORTHWARD...EXPECT ELEVATED
CONVECTION TO SPREAD EASTWARD ON NOSE OF LOW LEVEL JET. THEN AS
COLD FRONT APPROACHES...STRONG 0-3 KM SHEAR (OVER 40 KNOTS) WITH
CORRESPONDING MID AND UPPER LEVEL JET OF NEARLY 100 KNOTS...WILL
LIKELY PRODUCE SQUALL LINE AHEAD OF ADVANCING FRONT.

SYSTEM TO MOVE RAPIDLY ACROSS AREA SATURDAY MORNING WITH STRONG
PRESSURE GRADIENT IN ITS WAKE. BOTH ETA AND AVN INDICATED 40 KNOT
850 MB WINDS ON SATURDAY AND WITH CLEARING SKIES AND GOOD MIXING
SHOULD SEE SURFACE WINDS APPROACH ADVISORY CRITERIA...ESPECIALLY
ACROSS THE NORTH AND WEST. FOR NOW WILL HIT HARD IN ZONES AND LEAVE
EVENING/OVERNIGHT CREW TO HOIST FLAGS IF NEED BE.

HIGH PRESSURE THEN BUILDS IN AS DEWPOINTS DROP OFF INTO THE 40S AND
50S. AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES ONLY EXPECTED IN THE 70S REMAINDER OF
THE WEEKEND WILL FEEL LIKE AN EARLY TOUCH OF AUTUMN. NEXT CHANCE
OF RAIN COME MONDAY NIGHT...AS MOISTURE BEGINS TO RETURN.

IN THE 4 TO 7 DAY TIME FRAME FAST UPPER FLOW TO KEEP PARADE OF
SYSTEMS COMING THROUGH. VERY DIFFICULT TO TIME AND THUS HAVE
INCLUDED CHANCE POPS THROUGH THE PERIOD.

GUIDANCE NUMBERS IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT AND IN LINE WITH PREVIOUS
ZONES...SO ONLY MADE A FEW TWEAKS HERE AND THERE.

.LSE...NONE.

RABERDING

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:19 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Clark

When: August 17, 12:20 AM CST
Where: Clark County, Willard
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 44.735, -90.612 (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 Wisconsin in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, 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: 5312036.