Name: Lightning Strike in California, July 18, 2006
Start: 2006-07-18T02:34
End: 2006-07-18T03:00
Location: California

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $35,000
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 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 Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 18, 1:05 AM PST, 1 hour 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 1:05 AM PST, 1 hour 29 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
205 AM PDT TUE JUL 18 2006

.SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY...
GFS INDICATING THAT VORT MAX ASSOCIATED WITH CURRENT AREA OF
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY OVER THE DESERTS AND INTO KERN COUNTY
MOUNTAINS WILL MOVE NW ALONG THE SPINE OF THE SIERRAS. AND INTO
THE CENTRAL VALLEY BY WEDNESDAY. RIDGE IS STILL QUITE IMPRESSIVE
BUT WILL EXPECT TO SEE TEMPERATURES A FEW DEGREES COOLER TODAY
THAN YESTERDAY. HEIGHTS WILL RISE AGAIN ON WEDNESDAY AS RIDGE WILL
BUILD BACK IN ON TOP OF THE REGION WITH THE CENTER OF THE UPPER
LEVEL HIGH PLACED OVER CENTRAL NV. THINGS MAY DRY UP A BIT WITH
STRONGER SUBSIDENCE SQUELCHING WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY.
HOWEVER THE SE FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP THE CREST AND THE
DESERTS IN GOOD COVERAGE.

.LONG TERM...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS
FORECAST LITTLE IF ANY CHANGE IN THE OVERALL PATTERN THRU DAY 7
WITH STRONG UPPER LEVEL RIDGE ANCHORED OVER THE WESTERN CONUS.
MOST OF THE MEDIUM RANGE SOLNS PLACE THE CENTER OF THIS HIGH
OVER IDAHO AND MAINTAIN A LIGHT EAST TO SOUTHEAST FLOW ALOFT ACROSS
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN CA. THIS SETUP WOULD FAVOR ADVECTION OF
MONSOONAL MOISTURE NORTHWESTWARD FROM ARIZONA AND MEXICO THRU THE
PERIOD WITH ISOLATED CONVECTION OVER THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE
SIERRA AND THE KERN CO MTNS AND DESERT. OTHERWISE...TEMPS WILL
CONTINUE TO RUN SEVERAL DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD
WITH TRIPLE DIGIT HEAT COMMON TO THE SJ VLY...LOWER FOOTHILLS
AND THE KERN CO DESERT.

&&

.AVIATION...LOCAL MVFR POSSIBLE IN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER
THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SIERRA AS WELL AS THE KERN COUNTY
MOUNTAINS AND DESERT. OTHERWISE VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL
THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY.  FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS...PLEASE REFER TO
TAFS FOR KMCE...KFAT AND KBFL.

&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

JDB/DURFEE

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 17, 6:25 AM PST, 20 hours 9 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
725 AM PDT MON JUL 17 2006

CAZ098-099-181300-
INDIAN WELLS VALLEY-SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT-
725 AM PDT MON JUL 17 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE KERN COUNTY DESERT.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING EACH DAY
THROUGH THE PERIOD.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS TO THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
OFFICE.

CAZ089>097-181300-
WEST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-EAST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-
SOUTHWESTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-SOUTHEASTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-
MARIPOSA MADERA AND FRESNO COUNTY FOOTHILLS-TULARE COUNTY FOOTHILLS-
KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS-SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON-
TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
725 AM PDT MON JUL 17 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND
MOUNTAIN PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

DS

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Kern

When: July 18, 2:34 AM PST to 3:00 AM PST
Where: Kern County, Ridgecrest
Property damage: $35,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Frequent cloud-to-ground lightning strokes occurred from Ridgecrest to NAS China Lake in northeast Kern County early in the morning of the 18th. Power was knocked out to over 5300 customers in the Ridgecrest and Inyokern areas during the early morning hours before dawn. Southern California Edison reported at least 25 sites where the storm damaged equipment. Unreportable damage also occurred at NAS China Lake from the lightning. The thunderstorm activity also occurred at Trona, 17 miles ENE of Ridgecrest in San Bernardino County, at 1:00 AM PST and similarly had accompanying strong winds, heavy rain, and lightning.

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 California in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in California, July 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: 5517562.