Lightning — Los Alamos, New Mexico

2016-08-19 · near Los Alamos, Los Alamos, New Mexico

Event narrative

Lightning splintered a tree at the Los Alamos Golf Course near 16 Los Alamos High School Golf Team members and four coaches. The strike occurred at around 4 pm, about 300 feet away from where the team was practicing. Several of the students reported feeling a strong static electricity sensation flow through their bodies. Fortunately, no injuries occurred.

Wider weather episode

A back door cold front shifted southwest across northeast New Mexico and interacted with deep moisture and instability already in place over the area. A powerful lightning bolt out of an otherwise benign shower splintered a tree near the Los Alamos High School golf team practice. Fortunately, no injuries occurred. Storms that developed over northeast New Mexico produced high winds and marginally severe hail. Clayton reported a peak wind gust to 59 mph and Tucumcari 58 mph. Nickel size hail was reported with a storm near Seneca.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.8991, -106.3053)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 645496. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.