Lightning, Riverside
- When
- July 30, 7:02 AM PST
- Where
- Riverside County, Romoland
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 33.744, -115.994 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning Strike in California, July 30, 2003
A construction worker standing on a catwalk and washing down fiberglass water tanks, was struck by lightning and fell 30 feet to the ground. He was in cardiac arrest when Paramedics arrived, transported to the hospital, and pronounced dead at 0758 PST.
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
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 SGX wrote it up.
A construction worker standing on a catwalk and washing down fiberglass water tanks, was struck by lightning and fell 30 feet to the ground. He was in cardiac arrest when Paramedics arrived, transported to the hospital, and pronounced dead at 0758 PST.
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 San Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 30, 3:15 AM PST, 3 hours 47 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 30, 3:15 AM PST, 3 hours 47 minutes before
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA 415 AM PDT WED JUL 30 2003 .SYNOPSIS...MONSOONAL MOISTURE WITH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL SPREAD WESTWARD ACROSS SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA TODAY INTO THIS EVENING. AS THE FLOW ALOFT BECOMES SOUTHEASTERLY THURSDAY AND SOME DRYING OCCURS...THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS FROM THE VALLEYS INLAND. DRYING WILL CONTINUE FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WITH THUNDERSTORMS CONFINED MAINLY TO THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS...NIGHT AND MORNING COASTAL LOW CLOUDS WILL GRADUALLY RETURN INTO THE WEEKEND. .DISCUSSION...ACTIVE MONSOON PATTERN FOR SW CA WITH ABUNDANT MONSOONAL MSTR BEING FUNNELED WESTWARD ACROSS SRN CA IN THE ELY FLOW BETWEEN THE UPR LVL HIGH CENTERED OVR NRN CA AND AND AN UPR LVL LOW OFF THE CNTRL COAST OF BAJA. FLOW ALF WL GRADUALLY BECOME SELY THRU THU AS THE UPR LOW DRIFTS NWWD AND THE UPR HIGH SEWD. ELY FLOW TODAY WL BRING ABUNDANT MONSOONAL MSTR AND SOME THUNDERSTORMS AND SHOWERS AT TIMES...THOUGH TIMING IS DIFFICULT AS NO WELL DEFINED ORGANIZING MECHANISMS ARE PRESENT. SMALL AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS OVR THE ERN DESERTS OF SRN CA HAS BEEN MOVG STEADILY WWD OVERNIGHT. THOUGH TOPS HAVE WARMED SOME...IT APPEARS THIS AREA WILL HOLD TOGETHER LONG ENOUGH TO AT LEAST REACH THE SAN DIEGO AND SW RIVERSIDE COUNTY MTNS AND DESERTS THRU SUNRISE. ITS POSSIBLE THIS AREA COULD MOVE WEST OF THE MTNS AFTER SUNRISE...THOUGH PERHAPS THEN JUST AS SHOWERS. STRONG GUSTY WINDS WL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY...ESPECIALLY IN THE DESERTS. OVERNIGHT...A THUNDERSTORM PRODUCED A WIND GUST TO 48 MPH A LTL BEFORE MIDNIGHT AT AN AUTOMATED SENSOR NR MEANS LAKE IN THE SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY DESERTS. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP OVR THE MTNS THIS AFTERNOON AND COULD DRIFT INTO THE VLYS AND SOME CSTL AREAS IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. AS THE FLOW ALF BECOMES SELY AND SOME DRYING OCCURS...THUNDERSTORMS THU WL BE MORE DIURNALLY DRIVEN AND CONFINED TO AREAS FM THE VLYS INLAND. THE DECRG THUNDERSTORM TREND SHOULD CONTINUE FOR FRI AND SAT AS THE FLOW ALF BECOMES SLY. .SAN...NONE. MARTIN
The radar
The San Diego radar (KNKX), 134 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:01 UTC.
Event by event
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
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, Riverside | 2003-07-30 | 30 | Male | Heavy Equipment/Construction | 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
- Wildfire in California, July 30 to 31, 2003
- Heavy Rain in California, July 30, 2003
- Flash Flood in Maine, July 30, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Florida, July 30, 2003
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Wisconsin, July 30, 2003
- Lightning Strike in California, July 30, 2003
- Lightning Strike in California, July 30, 2003
- Lightning Strikes in Arkansas, July 30, 2003
- Flash Flood in Louisiana, July 30, 2003
- Damaging Wind in California, July 30, 2003
- Hail in Arizona, July 30, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Mississippi, July 30, 2003
More
Every storm in California in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in California, July 2003
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: 5365836.