Lightning — Hendricks, Indiana

2023-05-07 · near Speedway Arpt, Hendricks, Indiana

$50K

Property damage

Event narrative

A fire in the attic area of Brownsburg Cardinal Elementary School was caused by a thunderstorm's cloud to ground lightning strike. The school was closed on Monday, May 8th; clean up of water damage from the fire suppression system continued into at least Tuesday May 9th.

Wider weather episode

During the late evening and early overnight hours of May 6th a few severe storms moved into Indiana producing large to significant sized hail. Instability parameters were less than usual for an event of this magnitude, but effective shear and a buoyant elevated area of instability was enough for a few storms to produce the large hail.

Additional strong, yet decaying thunderstorms crossed central Indiana through pre-dawn hours on the 7th. Lightning from one cell caused a fire in an Elementary School in Hendricks County, before a downburst damaged a barn in Daviess County around dawn.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.8168, -86.3837)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1093316. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.