Lightning — Houston, Georgia

2008-09-11 · near Bonaire, Houston, Georgia

Event narrative

The Macon Telegraph reported that 12 people, nine adults and three teenagers, were injured when lightning struck a goal post on the football field at Bonaire Middle School during a Thursday evening football game. The athletic director from the opposing school, Warner Robins, was left in critical condition and transferred to a burn center along with three of the other adults.

Wider weather episode

A stationary front remained across central Georgia as hurricane Ike continued to churn west through the central Gulf of Mexico. The large scale circulation around Ike continued to bring Atlantic moisture into Georgia. This combined with the front to produce scattered to numerous afternoon thunderstorms across central Georgia. Little to no activity occurred in north Georgia. While none of the thunderstorms were observed to be severe, frequent cloud-to-ground lightning occurred causing several injuries at a football game in Houston county, just south of Macon.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.5500, -83.6000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 134679. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.