Lightning Strikes in Wisconsin, May 9, 2002

Name: Lightning Strikes in Wisconsin, May 9, 2002
Start: 2002-05-09T22:00
End: 2002-05-09T22:45
Location: Wisconsin

May 9, 2002 · NWS GRB · 2 events in 1 county or zone

). The homeowner went to investigate a loud noise and was knocked back by flames when he attempted to open the door to his garage.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: $200,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 GRB wrote it up.

A lightning strike caused a fire that destroyed a home and garage in Athens (Marathon co.). The homeowner went to investigate a loud noise and was knocked back by flames when he attempted to open the door to his garage. He was treated at a hospital for burns to his face and hands.Another lightning strike knocked six radio stations, all housed in the same building, off the air in Wausau (Marathon co.). The lightning may have traveled over phone lines and into station equipment where it wiped out computer hard drives and most of the phone systems in the on-air studios. Audio cards were blown and normal operating procedures were bypassed to get back on the air according to the station program manager. The stations were off the air from a few minutes to as much as 25 minutes.

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 Green Bay, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 9, 2:15 PM CST, 7 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 9, 2:15 PM CST, 7 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREEN BAY WI
315 PM CDT THU MAY 9 2002

FCST CHALLENGES THIS GO AROUND INCLUDE WNDS TNGT AND PCPN CHCS FOR THE
UPCOMING WEEKEND.

THE 19Z SFC ANALYSIS INDICATED THAT THE STG SFC LOW WAS SITUATED NORTH
OF LK SUPERIOR AND HI PRES OVR KS. TIGHT GRAD HAS PRODUCED WNDY
CONDITIONS ACROSS NE WI THIS AFTERNOON WITH A COUPLE OF LOCATIONS HAVING
GUSTS AS HIGH AS 45 MPH. SATL IMAGERY SHOWED CELLULAR LOOKING CU MAINLY
ACROSS THE WRN THIRD OF WI AS WRAP AROUND MSTR CONTS TO ROTATE AROUND
THE STACKED LOW PRES SYSTEM TO OUR NORTH.

MDLS PROGGED TO TAKED LOW PRES SYSTEM NORTH AND EAST INTO ERN ONTARIO BY
12Z FRI. EXPECT LOW CLDS TO GRAD BREAK UP ACROSS THE NORTH AS THE NGT
WEARS ON...HOWEVER WNDS SHOULD STAY UP THRU THE NGT AS PRES GRAD SLOW TO
WEAKEN. COLD AIR ALOFT WITH 8H TEMPS PROGGED TO BE ANYWHERE FROM -2 TO
-7C OVRNGT. STRENGTH OF WNDS WL NEGATE ANY SERIOUS TEMP DROP. HI PRES
FCST TO BUILD INTO THE RGN ON FRI AND PROVIDE FOR A NICE DAY WITH
DIMINISHING WNDS.

QUICK CHANGING WEATHER PATN CONTS STARTING FRI NGT AS LEAD SHRTWV EJECTS
NE OUT OF A WRN U.S. UPR TROF. SW FLOW ALOFT WL BRING THE SHRTWV INTO
THE CENTRAL PLAINS BY 12Z SAT. 45-55 KT SOUTHERLY LLJ STARTS TO TAP INTO
SOME GULF MSTR. WL GO WITH INCREASING CLD WORDING FOR NOW PER ETA AS
MDLS ALWAYS SEEM QUICK TO SEND MSTR UP THIS WAY. UPR TROF LIFTS NE AND
WEAKENS ON SAT. 8H WRMFNT LIFTS INTO SRN WI WITH 50 KT LLJ PERSISTING
DURING THE DAY. THERE IS SOME HINT OF EXTRA LIFT PROVIDED BY RIGHT
ENTRANCE RGN OF JET PULLING THRU ERN ONTARIO. LAPSE RATES AT MID LVLS
ONLY MARGINALLY UNSTABLE SO APRS TO BE MORE OF A SHOWER EVENT WITH ONLY
ISOLATED THUNDER. MSTR CONV MAX TO OUR SOUTH NR 8H FNT...THUS EXPECT
HEAVIER RAIN POTENTIAL OVR THE SRN HALF OF WI.

HAVE KEPT LIKELY WORDING GOING INTO SUNDAY AS WEAK LOW PRES MOVS ALONG A
FNTL BNDRY TO OUR SOUTH. BULK OF PCPN WOULD OCCUR IN THE MORNING...SO
HAVE TRIED TO WORD ZNS THAT WAY. HAVE KEPT MON AND TUE DRY FOR NOW
DESPITE SOME WK DISTURBANCES PASSING BY. NXT SERIOUS FNT COMES ON WED
AND THEN TRIES TO RETURN ON THU.

GUID TEMPS CLOSER TDA THAN YDA BUT STILL SEEM A BIT WARM FOR FRI. DO NOT
PLAN TO STRAY TOO FAR FROM NUMBERS.

.GRB...NONE.

KALLAS
WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/GRB

The radar

The Green Bay radar (KGRB), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:58 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Marathon

When: May 9, 10:00 PM CST
Where: Marathon County, Athens
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 44.898, -89.759 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning, Marathon

When: May 9, 10:45 PM CST
Where: Marathon County, Wausau
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 44.898, -89.759 (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, May 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: 5295876, 5295877.