Lightning Strikes in Florida, June 27, 2018

Name: Lightning Strikes in Florida, June 27, 2018
Start: 2018-06-27T12:58
End: 2018-06-27T14:47
Location: Florida

June 27, 2018 · NWS MLB · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
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Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 1
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 MLB wrote it up.

The main flow across central Florida was from the west-southwest due to a frontal trough moving across the mid-Atlantic states, and the axis of the Bermuda High Pressure situated across south Florida. Moisture was high across the area with Precipitable Water values around 1.80 to 2.00 inches. Temperatures aloft at 500 mb were around -6 to -7 degrees Celsius. The atmosphere was favorable for showers and thunderstorms to develop along the east and west coast sea breezes. Due to the stronger west winds, the west coast sea breeze was dominant, and the main collision between the two sea breezes occurred closer to the east central Florida coast. Still, numerous showers and thunderstorms impacted much of east central Florida. One man was killed after being struck by lightning in Umatilla, while another man was injured after being struck by lightning in Orlando.

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 Melbourne, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 27, 8:23 AM EST, 4 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 27, 8:23 AM EST, 4 hours 35 minutes before

East Central Florida Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Melbourne FL
923 AM EDT Wed Jun 27 2018

.DISCUSSION...
Current...The Air Force wind network shows signs of the approaching
trough as winds have veered w/nw aloft over the past several hours

XMR sounding this morning shows relatively warm temp nr -6.8C @H5
with W/NW winds 5 to 10 kt from the sfc through ~10k ft. This setup
wl favor areas closer to the east coast for onset and development of
late morning/afternoon seabreeze initiated storms with added
component of migration of the west coast breeze and its ascd
convection into the ECFL forecast area later today.

The main contribution for the expected lightning storms will be
strong surface heating and numerous boundary interactions.
Precipitable water ~45.7 mm will allow for some locally heavy rains
to occur given slow movement of activity. Main hazard will be
lightning and heavy rain. Strong wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph will be
possible in the stronger cells. The present forecast remains valid.

prev disc...

Today-Tonight...Little change indicated in overall pattern which
shows frontal trough moving towards the eastern seaboard and
Atlantic ridge axis becoming suppressed to our south.  This will
provide a westerly component in the low-mid level flow.

Moisture is progged to be quite high, precipitable water values
starting off the day 1.8 to 2.0 inches.  500mb temps are forecast
minus 6 to 7C with no capping inversion. This should allow
initiation of deep convection in the early afternoon along sea
breeze boundaries.  With developing westerly flow, numerous boundary
interactions are expected across the area during the afternoon and
early evening.

MOS PoPs are around 70% in the south and curiously 20% in the far
north.  The HRRR, local WRF and ECMWF don't show such a large PoP
range, so will follow along with our previous forecast which has
likely PoPs over most of the area, except right along the coast.

Boundary interactions may persist into evening and generate
isolated/scattered PoPs.

&&

.AVIATION...Mainly VFR this morning, then another round of
convection will occur this afternoon into early evening.  All of the
terminals can expect to be affected by rain cooling and/or an
outflow boundary.  Storm propagation will be from west to east
across the peninsula.  The sites that are most affected will have
heavy rain and gusty winds to around 35 knots in addition to
frequent lightning strikes.

&&

.MARINE...
Today-Tonight...Surface ridge will settle south of the waters, which
will provide a light southwest-west wind flow and continued benign
sea conditions.  Scattered afternoon storms that form over the
mainland should affect the intracoastal waters and nearshore
Atlantic with downpours and lightning strikes.  Gusty winds to
around 35 knots are also expected as storms drift slowly to the east.

Light winds in the extended forecast will keep seas generally 2-3
feet.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...
Showers and thunderstorms are in the forecast for the Saint Johns
River Above Lake Harney, near Geneva which will remain above Action
Stage through at least the next five days. Locally heavy rainfall on
Tuesday caused a slight rise in the river.  Any additional heavy
rainfall at this location will lead to another slow rise, though the
river is forecast to remain just below minor Flood Stage.

&&

.MLB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...None.
AM...None.

&&

JP/DKW

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 27, 10:09 AM EST, 2 hours 49 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Melbourne FL
1109 AM EDT Wed Jun 27 2018

AMZ550-552-555-570-572-575-FLZ041-044>047-053-054-058-059-064-141-
144-147-280200-
Flagler Beach to Volusia-Brevard County Line 0-20 nm-Volusia-
Brevard County Line to Sebastian Inlet 0-20 nm-
Sebastian Inlet to Jupiter Inlet 0-20 nm-Flagler Beach to Volusia-
Brevard County Line 20-60 nm-Volusia-
Brevard County Line to Sebastian Inlet 20-60 nm-
Sebastian Inlet to Jupiter Inlet 20-60 nm-Inland Volusia County-
Northern Lake County-Orange-Seminole-Southern Brevard County-
Osceola-Indian River-Okeechobee-St. Lucie-Martin-
Coastal Volusia County-Southern Lake County-
Northern Brevard County-
1109 AM EDT Wed Jun 27 2018

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

.THUNDERSTORM IMPACT...
A light westerly wind flow will lead to numerous boundary
interactions over east central Florida during the afternoon and
evening. This combined with a moist airmass in place will
generate scattered to numerous showers and storms across the area.
Showers and storms will initially move into Lake County and
develop along the east coast sea breeze from early to mid
afternoon, with increasing coverage near or inland of I-95 as
outflow and sea breeze boundaries collide through late day.

The main hazard will be from frequent lightning strikes and
locally heavy rainfall in a few strong storms. Gusty winds 40 to
45 mph are also possible.

.FLOOD IMPACT...
Storm motion will be slowly to the east or southeast, so a few
stronger storms will be capable of dumping around 3 inches of rain
in a 60 to 90 minute period. This would cause considerable
ponding of water on roadways and other poorly drained areas.

.MARINE THUNDERSTORM GUST IMPACT...
A few storms over land areas, particularly along the east coast
sea breeze, will become strong and produce wind gusts near 40 mph.
Storms are expected to move slowly to the east or southeast, so
mariners on inland lakes and along the coast should move to safe
harbor as skies darken to the west.

.RIVER FLOOD IMPACT...
The Saint Johns River above Lake Harney near Geneva will remain
in Action Stage through at least the next five days. Locally
heavy rainfall on Tuesday caused a slight rise in the river. Any
additional heavy rainfall at this location will lead to another
slow rise, though the river is forecast to remain just below minor
Flood Stage.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY.
Scattered to numerous showers and storms are expected through the
period each afternoon and evening. A few strong storms with
frequent lightning strikes and quick 2 to 3 inch downpours are
expected each day where boundary interactions are most vigorous.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
Spotter activation will not be needed today. Rainfall observers
should report amounts of 2 inches or greater to the National
Weather Service in Melbourne.

Lascody/Weitlich

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Lake

When: June 27, 12:58 PM EST
Where: Lake County, 2.5 mi NW of Umatilla
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: Newspaper
Coordinates: 28.941, -81.683

Per a report received via a local newspaper, a 44-year-old man was killed after being struck by lightning in Umatilla. At 1721 LST, a man was found unconscious by his neighbors on a small pontoon boat at his home on Lake Owen, on the 40000th block of Long Island Drive in Umatilla. The neighbors called the Lake County Sheriffs Office, and first responders transported the man to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased. The medical examiners office determined the cause of death to be electrocution, and this is further supported by burn marks found on the seat and floor of the boat. NWS Melbourne meteorologists determined the lightning strike occurred around 1258 LST, this was confirmed by reports from the neighbors who heard loud bang of the strike many hours before finding the deceased man on his boat.

Lightning, Orange

When: June 27, 2:47 PM EST
Where: Orange County, 1.51 mi SSW of (Orl)orlando Exec Ar
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: Broadcast Media
Coordinates: 28.530, -81.340

Per reports relayed via local broadcast media, an Orlando man working on the roof of his home was struck by lightning and injured. Two neighbors called 911 after finding the injured man laying on the ground behind his home, though he was conscious at the time. Orlando firefighters arrived at the man's home, which is located on Lake Arnold Place, near Primrose Drive just south of State Road 408. Firefighters transported the man to a local hospital as a trauma alert. The injured man survived his injuries.

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, Lake	2018-06-27	44	Male	Boating	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

Every storm in Florida in 2018 Every state in 2018 This day in weather history Warnings in Florida, June 2018

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: 753974, 753966.