Lightning — Calloway, Kentucky

2019-06-23 · near Murray, Calloway, Kentucky

Event narrative

Eyewitnesses observed lightning strike next to a woman on the campus of Murray State University. The 50-year-old woman immediately collapsed. CPR was administered, and she died shortly thereafter at a Tennessee hospital.

Wider weather episode

Clusters of thunderstorms formed over western Kentucky early in the afternoon. Several of these storms produced large hail or damaging wind. However, the main event was a line of severe thunderstorms that entered southeast Missouri about mid-afternoon and then tracked east across western Kentucky late in the afternoon and early in the evening. Several EF-1 tornadoes were associated with this line, in addition to scattered pockets of wind damage. The storms occurred under a rather strong southwest wind flow ahead of a weak cold front over far western Missouri. A 500 mb shortwave trough over the western high Plains provided some additional support for the storms. The air mass was strongly unstable, with surface capes over 3000 j/kg.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.6200, -88.3200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 826316. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.