During an active evening of showers of thunderstorms, damage was reported from two different lightning strikes near Salt Lake City.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS SLC wrote it up.
During an active evening of showers of thunderstorms, damage was reported from two different lightning strikes near Salt Lake City.
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 Salt Lake City, UT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 7, 2:56 PM MST, 2 hours 44 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 356 PM MDT TUE MAY 7 2013 .SYNOPSIS...A SLOW MOVING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL BRING UNSETTLED CONDITIONS TO THE REGION THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE AREA THIS WEEKEND. && .DISCUSSION...FAIRLY WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN UTAH THIS AFTERNOON. THIS IN RELATION TO AN IMPULSE MOVING NORTH ACROSS UTAH. CURRENT MESOANALYSIS INDICATES 250 J/KG OF MUCAPE ACROSS MUCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN UTAH. THE BEST DEEP SHEAR IS COLOCATED ALONG THE UTAH/ARIZONA BORDER REGION. THE MOST ORGANIZED STORMS OF THE DAY HAVE BEEN IN THIS LOCATION...BUT HAVE REMAINED SUBSEVERE THIS AFTERNOON. THE BIGGEST THREATS WILL CONTINUE TO BE HEAVY RAINFALL AND BRIEF SMALL HAIL...ESPECIALLY ACROSS SOUTHERN UTAH. THE UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL CONTINUE TO SLOWLY PUSH ACROSS THE REGION...KEEPING A THREAT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA FOR SEVERAL DAYS. THE BIGGEST THREATS WILL CONTINUE TO BE HEAVY RAINFALL AND BRIEF SMALL HAIL. ONCE THE UPPER LEVEL LOW DEPARTS THE AREA...EXPECT A STRONG WARMING TREND STARTING THURSDAY AS A LARGE AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE AREA. THIS PATTERN LOOKS TO CONTINUE THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. CURRENTLY...THE FIRST 80F FORECAST FOR SLC IS EXPECTED EITHER SATURDAY OR SUNDAY. THIS WOULD BE THE WARMEST DAY OF THE YEAR SO FAR...AND IS ABOUT 10 TO 15 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. && .AVIATION...THE BIGGEST UNCERTAINTY FOR THE SLC TERMINAL THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING IS RELATED TO SHOWERS THAT CONTINUE TO FORM OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN. THERE IS A 50 PERCENT CHANCE THAT ONE OF THESE SHOWERS IMPACTS THE TERMINAL BETWEEN 22Z AND 04Z...WITH GUSTY AND ERRATIC WINDS BEING THE MOST LIKELY IMPACT. BRIEF PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN AND CEILINGS BELOW 7000FT ARE ALSO POSSIBLE IF SHOWERS MOVE DIRECTLY OVERHEAD. && .FIRE WEATHER...A SLOW-MOVING STORM SYSTEM CROSSING THE EASTERN GREAT BASIN WILL CONTINUE TO BRING A MOIST AND SOMEWHAT UNSTABLE AIRMASS TO THE FIRE DISTRICT THROUGH LATE WEEK. NEAR SEASONAL TEMPERATURES AND ELEVATED RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES CAN BE EXPECTED DURING THIS TIME WITH GENERALLY LIGHT WINDS. MOSTLY WET THUNDERSTORMS...WIDELY SCATTERED TO SCATTERED IN THE VALLEYS AND SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS IN THE MOUNTAINS...ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH FRIDAY BEFORE A WARMING AND DRYING TREND DEVELOPS FOR THE WEEKEND. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && KRUSE/CHENG/SCHOENING FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE) FOR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY/GENERAL/AFD_FAQS.PHP (ALL LOWER CASE)
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 430 AM MDT TUE MAY 7 2013 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-081100- CACHE VALLEY/UTAH PORTION-NORTHERN WASATCH FRONT- SALT LAKE AND TOOELE VALLEYS-SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT- GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT AND MOUNTAINS-WASATCH MOUNTAIN VALLEYS- WASATCH MOUNTAINS I-80 NORTH-WASATCH MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF I-80- WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS-WASATCH PLATEAU/BOOK CLIFFS- WESTERN UINTA BASIN-CASTLE COUNTRY-SAN RAFAEL SWELL- SANPETE/SEVIER VALLEYS-WEST CENTRAL UTAH-SOUTHWEST UTAH- UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH- GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL-CENTRAL MOUNTAINS- SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS-SOUTHWEST WYOMING- 430 AM MDT TUE MAY 7 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH THIS EVENING ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. THESE STORMS WILL BE MOST NUMEROUS ACROSS SOUTHERN UTAH...WHERE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL MAY LEAD TO ISOLATED FLASH FLOODING..PARTICULARLY WITHIN SLOT CANYONS AND NORMALLY DRY WASHES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...SOME CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND SMALL HAIL...WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA THROUGH THURSDAY. THE OUTLOOK AREA IS EXPECTED TO SLOWLY DRY OUT FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION. THIS HIGH WILL BRING A SUBSTANTIAL WARMING TREND FOR THE WEEKEND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE) FOR INFORMATION ON POTENTIAL TRAVEL IMPACTS VISIT... HTTP://WWW.UDOTTRAFFIC.UTAH.GOV/ROADWEATHERFORECAST.ASPX
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 548 PM MDT TUE MAY 7 2013 UTZ020-518-080015- SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH UT-SOUTHERN UTAH MOUNTAINS UT- 548 PM MDT TUE MAY 7 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHWESTERN GARFIELD COUNTY UNTIL 615 PM MDT... AT 542 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR HENRIEVILLE...OR 28 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ESCALANTE...MOVING NORTH AT 25 MPH. PENNY TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL IS EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. * LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... TROPIC... IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...TAKE SHELTER IN A STURDY BUILDING. LAT...LON 3775 11216 3774 11185 3754 11194 3755 11218 TIME...MOT...LOC 2348Z 187DEG 15KT 3760 11206 MCONGER
The Salt Lake City radar (KMTX), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:39 UTC.
2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the top gable of a house in West Jordan; the bolt then traveled about 10 feet and burned part of a satellite dish on the roof of the house.
A plane belonging to the Utah Air National Guard (a KC-135, which is a large plane that provides in-flight refueling for other aircraft) took off from Salt Lake City International Airport on the evening of May 7, and was struck by lightning about 10 minutes after takeoff. The lightning damaged a communications antenna that stretches from the nose to the tail of the aircraft. In addition to knocking out communications, the antenna became loose and hit against the plane repeatedly, damaging the skin of the aircraft. No one was injured in the incident, and the crew was able to use alternate communications to help them return to the airport and land.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, May 2013
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: 456506, 456542.