Lightning Strike in Alaska, June 18, 2006

Name: Lightning Strike in Alaska, June 18, 2006
Start: 2006-06-18T16:00
End: 2006-06-18T16:05
Location: Alaska

June 18, 2006 · NWS AFG · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Lightning is attributed to causing fire that destroyed a home under construction at 17 mile Chena Hot Springs Road. No one was present at the house during the fire.

The toll

Deaths: 0
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 AFG wrote it up.

Lightning is attributed to causing fire that destroyed a home under construction at 17 mile Chena Hot Springs Road. No one was present at the house during the fire. The home's value was estimated at $250,000, a damage loss that is indirect.

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 Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 18, 1:43 PM AST, 2 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 18, 1:43 PM AST, 2 hours 17 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
243 PM ADT SUN JUN 18 2006

.DISCUSSION...MODELS ARE IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT EXCEPT FOR THE
CONTINUAL TOO WARM OF TEMPERATURES ALOFT BY THE NAM.

SYNOPTIC SITUATION IS SIMILAR TO THAT OF SATURDAY FOR NORTHERN
ALASKA. SOUTHEAST FLOW WITH LONG FETCH OF MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE
TO FEED INTO THE INTERIOR OF ALASKA THROUGH THIS EVENING. THERMAL
LOW EAST OF FORT YUKON WILL REMAIN IN THE AREA WITH OCCASIONAL
DRIFTING AROUND TO WESTERN CANADA THROUGH 60 HOURS.

UPPER LEVEL FLOW FAVORS OROGRAPHICALLY ENHANCED PRECIPITATION
ALONG THE SOUTHERN SLOPES OF THE BROOKS RANGE FROM ABOUT BETTLES
WESTWARD. THIS COMBINED WITH AN UPPER LEVEL SHORT WAVE ROTATING
NORTHWESTWARD WILL ENHANCE THE INSTABILITY AND ALLOW FOR SOME
CONVECTION DEVELOPMENT IN THAT AREA.

LOOKING AT THE 300 MB TROPOPAUSE WIND DIVERGENCE...THIS REVEALS THAT A
MAXIMUM LIES OVER THE AREA IN THE WESTERN INTERIOR. THIS IS ALSO
ASSOCIATED WITH A 300 MB OMEGA FIELD AS WELL. THIS IS TRANSLATED
TO THE LOWER LEVELS ALSO AND THIS WOULD MAKE THE AREA PRIME
REAL ESTATE FOR CONVECTION DEVELOPMENT. BELIEVE AT THIS POINT THAT
WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS WOULD NOT BE OUT OF THE QUESTION FOR ZONE
216 AND NORTHERN ZONE 215 AREAS.

UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE NORTHEASTERN PORTION OF THE STATE WILL
SAG SOUTHWARD OVER THE INTERIOR BEGINNING TONIGHT. THIS WILL TEND
TO SHUT OFF MOST OF THE MOISTURE IN THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN
INTERIOR THROUGH MOST OF THE UPCOMING WEEK. HOWEVER THIS SETS UP
AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY FOR ZONES 216 AND 217 TO RECEIVE HEAVY
RAINFALL ASSOCIATED WITH CONVECTION POTENTIAL THROUGH MONDAY
NIGHT. AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA THROUGH
MONDAY NIGHT BEFORE PULLING NORTHWESTWARD AND A DECENT SOUTHERLY
FLOW AT 700 MB SHOULD SUPPLY AMPLE MOISTURE TO WORK WITH IN
DEVELOPING EXCELLENT CONVECTION.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...MOIST CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT THE INTERIOR WILL
PREVENT ANY RELATIVE HUMIDITIES FALLING BELOW 40 PERCENT THROUGH
MONDAY. WIND FLOW SHOULD BE LESS THAN 25 MPH AS WELL.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...ON SATURDAY A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPED JUST TO
THE NORTH AND EAST OF FAIRBANKS. ALTHOUGH THERE WERE NO SPOTTER
REPORTS OF HEAVY RAINFALL...THE RADAR SUGGESTED THAT SOME AREAS
RECEIVED AS MUCH AS 4 OR MORE INCHES OF RAINFALL. THE STEESE
HIGHWAY RAWS AT CLEARY SUMMIT HAS RECEIVED 2.7 INCHES OF RAINFALL
IN THE PAST 24 HOURS WHICH WOULD SEEM TO VERIFY LIKELY AMOUNTS OF
RAINFALL IN THE PAST 24 HOURS. THESE THUNDERSTORMS HAD LITTLE
UPPER LEVEL FLOW TO MOVE THEM ALONG SO THEY REMAINED NEARLY
STATIONARY FOR SEVERAL HOURS. TODAY SEEMS TO BE DIFFERENT AS THERE
IS UPPER LEVEL FLOW TO MOVE THE STORMS SO THE FLOODING POTENTIAL
DOES NOT SEEM TO BE PRESENT TODAY AS IT WAS ON SATURDAY.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

CF JUN 06

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Middle Tanana Valley

When: June 18, 4:00 PM AST to 4:05 PM AST
Where: Middle Tanana Valley County, Two Rivers
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

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 Alaska in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, June 2006

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: 5518810.