Lightning — Northampton, Pennsylvania

2007-08-25 · near Belfast, Northampton, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

Frequent cloud to ground lightning associated with a small cluster of thunderstorms rolled across Northampton County during the evening of the 25th. Lightning struck the steeple of the Great Shepard Christian Fellowship Church in Plainfield Township at 9:50 PM EDT. This resulted in a fire, which caused an estimated $250,000 in damage. In addition, lightning struck a saw mill in Upper Mount Bethel Township, sparking a fire at about 10:15 PM EDT. The saw mill was destroyed, which resulted in $1 million dollars in loss.

Wider weather episode

An area of low pressure moved across the eastern Great Lakes region during the morning of August 25th. A cold front associated with this low pressure system was located in the Ohio Valley. A hot and especially humid airmass was found ahead of this front across the Middle Atlantic region on August 25th. As the front approached, showers and thunderstorms developed and moved across the area. The actual cold front however did not clear the region until the morning of the 26th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.8201, -75.2581)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 55561. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.