Lightning — Clay, Florida

2020-05-28 · near Mill Creek, Clay, Florida

Event narrative

Three people working for Red Stag Contracting were struck by a lightning strike along Iris Street in Middleburg while working on a roof. All victims were transported to Orange Park Medical Center. One victim, a 35 year old male, was struck directly and went into cardiac arrest. He was revived via CPR on scene and was later transferred to the UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL. He remained in a coma until his passing on 6/9/2020, at 15:45 EDT.

Wider weather episode

A diffuse surface trough axis was north of the Altamaha River basin with very high dew pts in the low/mid 70s across the entire forecast area south of the boundary. The 12z

JAX RAOB showed less deep layer moisture (PWAT 1.6 inches) and stronger SW steering flow across the entire area from 10-15 kts south of I-10 across NE FL to 20 kts across our SE GA zones. There was drier air in the low/mid levels where the steepest lapse rates were near 6.8 C/km between 790 mb and 617 mb roughly. SE GA 0-6 km bulk shear was 20-25 kts. Ingredients favored pulse strong to severe storms with gusty downburst winds the main hazard.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.0600, -81.9000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 883908. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.