Name: Lightning Strike in Wisconsin, July 21, 2002
Start: 2002-07-21T04:30
End: 2002-07-21T04:30
Location: Wisconsin

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: 1
Injuries: 0
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 DLH wrote it up.

Lightning struck a nearby tree and killed a man while alseep in a tent.

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 Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 21, 3:00 AM CST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 21, 3:00 AM CST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
400 AM CDT SUN JUL 21 2002

MAIN FOCUS TODAY IS PLACEMENT OF PCPN/HEAVY RAINFALL POTENTIAL.

THE MODELS ARE HAVING A HARD TIME DIAGNOSING QPF SO FAR THIS
MORNING...WITH THE 06Z MESOETA/RUC BEST INDICATING QPF AREAS
AND LOCATING PLACEMENT OF VORT MAXES. WILL FOLLOW THE MESOETA
FOR THE DETAILS...AS THE AVN APPEARS TO BE SUFFERING SOME
CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK PROBLEMS.

EARLIER HEAVY CONVECTION OVER OUR SOUTHERN CWA HAS SINCE
DIMINISHED...WITH THE EXCEPTION BEING OVER NW WI...WHERE HEAVY
RAINFALL CONTINUES TO BE A PROBLEM. WILL CANCEL THE FLOOD WATCH
AT 430 AM...ALTHOUGH IF THE SAME SITUATION SETS UP ACROSS THESE
ZONES...WE MAY NEED TO REVISIT THE FLOODING POTENTIAL THERE. WITH
850 THETA-E AXIS NOSING INTO OUR SOUTHERN ZONES TODAY...WILL NEED
TO KEEP MENTION OF HEAVY RAINFALL. THINK THE PCPN IN SD WILL LIFT
NE AND DIMINISH SOMEWHAT TODAY...BEFORE A NEW BATCH OF STORMS
FIRES UP AS A H7-H5 S/W SWINGS ACROSS THE AREA. OCNL WORDING
SEEMS APPROPRIATE IN THE FAR SOUTH...WITH JUST CHANCE POPS
IN THE NORTH. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AGAIN POSSIBLE THIS
EVENING. MESOETA OMEGA HITS THIS AREA HARD AGAIN LATER TODAY.

DRIER AIR WILL PUSH IN ACROSS THE NORTH BY TONIGHT...AND WILL
THEN PUSH ACROSS NW WI LATER TONIGHT/MONDAY. TEMPS AND HUMIDITY
WILL BE QUITE A BIT LOWER. TEMPS TODAY WILL BE WELL INTO THE
80S...ALONG WITH HIGH HUMIDITY.

THANKS TO MQT/GRB FOR COORDINATION.

.DLH...NONE.

DAP

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:27 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Washburn

When: July 21, 4:30 AM CST
Where: Washburn County, 6 mi NW of Minong
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 45.899, -91.791 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Lightning, Washburn	2002-07-20	31	Male	Camping	Direct

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 Wisconsin in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, July 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: 5312375.