Lightning — Union, Louisiana

2025-10-18 · near Bernice, Union, Louisiana

Event narrative

Lightning struck an elevated deer stand south of Highway 2 just southeast of the Weldon community. A 17 year old male hunter was in the stand when it was struck and caught fire, and did not survive.

Wider weather episode

An upper level trough shifted east through the Central and Southern Plains during the afternoon/evening of October 18th, reinforcing a cold front southeast into Southwest Arkansas, Northeast Texas, and North Louisiana. A hot and humid air mass was present ahead of the front, with temperatures climbing into the mid 80s to near 90 degrees. When combined with ample low level moisture present, moderate instability was in place, with increasing wind shear ahead of the front/trough resulting in multi-cell thunderstorms developing during the afternoon and evening. Some of these storms became severe, with damaging winds downing trees and power lines across portions of extreme Eastern Texas, Southern Arkansas, and North Louisiana before the storms exited the region into the Lower Mississippi Valley after midnight. Unfortunately, one fatality was reported in Union Parish after lightning struck a deer stand, setting it on fire and killing a 17 year old male hunter inside.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.8445, -92.6956)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1294454. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.