Lightning — Grand Traverse, Michigan

2000-09-01 · near Traverse City, Grand Traverse, Michigan

Event narrative

A father and son were struck by lightning. See narrative below.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms formed along a warm front that stretched across northern Lower Michigan. The first thunderstorms began in Leelanau County around 400 pm and intensified quickly over the next hour. One thunderstorm intensified west of Traverse City and quickly moved over the downtown area. As the storm moved east of the city, a 60 MPH wind gust was reported, followed by a report of one inch diameter hail. Meanwhile, more storms producing very heavy rainfall formed over Lake Michigan and continued to dump rain over Leelanau county, mainly to the south of Leland and Suttons Bay, as well as over the Traverse City metropolitan area. The rain lasted over these locations from 600 pm to 1130 pm. Another area of thunderstorms formed over northern Benzie county around 700 pm. These also moved into the Traverse City metropolitan area. As with the storms over Leelanau county, these storms persisted until 1130 pm, continually affecting the same areas. Over the 4 to 5 hour period of rainfall, much of Leelanau county reported rainfall amounts ranging from 4 to 8 inches, while amounts ranged from 2 to 6 inches in Benzie and Grand Traverse counties. These storms led to flooding across Leelanau county as well as the northern half of Benzie and Grand Traverse counties. Many secondary roadways across the central and western sections of Leelanau county were washed out. Sections of M-22 running near Suttons Bay received significant damage due to the force of the running water. Several businesses within the town of Glen Arbor were flooded. Many city streets around Traverse City became inundated with as much as 4 feet of standing water. Intense lightning also occurred with these storms. The lightning caused power outages to hundreds of homes and businesses in the Traverse City area.Lightning associated with these storms and many others that night was nearly continuous. One man was killed by the lightning when he and his 9 year old son climbed a small hill behind a shopping mall to view the approaching lightning. The 40 year old father was struck and killed by a lightning bolt. His son was thrown to the ground, but only sustained minor injuries. Emergency crews preformed CPR on the father immediately and a police officer arrived quickly with a defibrillator. However, attempts to revive the man failed. Lightning that Friday night also disrupted numerous high school football games. Many games were cancelled or postponed until the following Saturday morning. Many of the schools which began play had lengthy delays and many waited an hour or more before fans and players could return to the field. This was widely covered by area newspapers and television stations. The cost of postponed games is not known.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5158128. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.