A lightning strike early morning in Oakdale damaged trees and a mobile home.
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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 STO wrote it up.
A lightning strike early morning in Oakdale damaged trees and a mobile home.
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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 24, 1:25 PM PST, 12 hours 20 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 225 PM PDT Thu May 24 2018 .SYNOPSIS... Afternoon and evening thunderstorms possible mainly over higher terrain this week. These are expected to extend across the Valley Friday. Slightly cooler than normal temperatures continue across most of the region through Saturday, warming to well above normal early next week. && .DISCUSSION... Main forecast concerns for the short term period are continued chances for mountain thunderstorms, rain and isolated thunder for the valley Friday, snow accumulations for high elevations of the Sierra south of highway 50 Friday through Saturday. Latest water vapor and model analysis shows the cut off upper level low has now moved well outside the region of weather influence as another disturbance approaches northern California from the west. Upper flow has returned to the northwest, which will continue to allow for thunderstorm development, but storms should move to the east of the crest this afternoon and tonight instead of to the west. Brief heavy downpours and some small hail can be expected in the stronger storms. Friday will be the coolest day of the week as the upper low passes directly overhead. Temperatures across the area will range between 10 and 20 degrees below normal with chances for valley rain and isolated thunder, mainly in the morning. Latest model runs have the majority of the instability over the mountains Friday, so valley thunder is expected to be minimal. However, scattered rain showers in the morning for the valley commute is possible. With the cold system moving overhead, chances for snow showers are possible for the high Sierra (8000 feet and above) for locations south of Highway 50. Model forecasts have swayed a bit on the actual accumulation amounts, but WPC 50th percentiles have somewhere between 1 and 3 inches of snow expected by Saturday. Due to Memorial Day weekend outdoor recreation, went with a Winter Advisory for locations near the area. Heading into the weekend, and upper level ridge builds and temperatures will begin to warm back to and slightly above normal. Temperatures across northern California are expected to increase by 15 to 30 degrees from Friday to Sunday. && .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Monday THROUGH Thursday) We will see a ridge to start the extended period and that will bring a big warm up for NorCal. We will see some of the warmest highs so far this year and they will run 30-40 degrees warmer than Friday's expected highs. If you have outdoor plans for the holiday weekend you will want to be prepared for the heat. With the ridge overhead we will see dry conditions. As we head into the mid part of the week we will see a trough push the ridge eastward. This will cool are daytime highs back to near normal. This trough will also bring back the chance for mountain showers and thunderstorms mainly during the afternoon and evenings. Looking at soundings and CAPE values it does look rather weak and that should keep the activity isolated. -CJM && .AVIATION... VFR conditions are expected at the TAF sites through 9z. We will see increasing clouds this evening with overcast skies between 3500 and 5000 feet developing in the late overnight. Light scattered showers are expected at the TAF sites after 9z and will taper off around the southern terminals by 18z. Showers will linger up north into the evening. MVFR/IFR will be possible in the vicinity of any showers. Overall we will see 5-11 knots winds but 10-18 knots during the evening. -CJM && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory from 5 AM Friday to 5 AM PDT Saturday for West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada. &&
The Sacramento radar (KDAX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:45 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A lightning strike in Oakdale ignited a fire in several Italian cypress trees. The flames spread to nearby vegetation and then to a mobile home, which sustained moderate damage. A second mobile home sustained minor heat damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 2018
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: 761288.