Lightning — Claiborne, Louisiana

2019-09-09 · near Mahan, Claiborne, Louisiana

Event narrative

Lightning struck 10 inmates at the Wade Correctional Facility who were outside playing flag football on the grounds. All were injured, one critically, and were taken to various hospitals.

Wider weather episode

An area of high pressure in the upper levels of the atmosphere was anchored over the Southeast United States during the afternoon of September 9th, which resulted in a deep southerly flow off of the Gulf of Mexico across North Louisiana and East Texas. This enhanced the seabreeze, with scattered showers and thunderstorms spreading north throughout the day into portions of East Texas and North Louisiana. Strong daytime heating, with temperatures climbing into the upper 90s, coupled with a moist and unstable air mass, resulted in isolated pulse severe thunderstorms to develop across portions of North Louisiana and East Texas during the mid and late afternoon hours. These thunderstorms produced brief downbursts that led to sporadic wind damage to trees across portions of Desoto, Bossier, Caldwell, and Ouachita Parishes. A thunderstorm also produced a cloud to ground lightning strike at the Wade Correctional Facility north of Homer, which injured 10 inmates outside, one critically. These storms diminished by late evening with the loss of heating and instability.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.9019, -93.0194)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 843633. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.