Lightning — Burke, North Carolina

2011-04-09 · near Morganton, Burke, North Carolina

Event narrative

Nine people were injured and several dogs were killed when lightning struck the Burke County Fairgrounds during a dog show.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms initiated over the mountains of North Carolina during the afternoon hours. As the afternoon progressed, several supercell thunderstorms developed which tracked southeast across the foothills and piedmont along a slow moving surface cold front. With unusually steep lapse rates over the region, several of the storms produced large hail. Fortunately the supercells were a little elevated in nature, and only one, brief, weak tornado developed. Still, hail ranging up to the size of a softballs did quite a bit of damage over the region.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.7600, -81.7200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 299250. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.