Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407160044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
In the last few months, lightning has been blamed for the deaths of a golfer and several boaters, fires and damage to many homes. On Wednesday, much of historic St. James' Episcopal Church in Richmond was destroyed in a blaze believed to have been started by a strike to the roof.
Last month, lightning even hit the National Weather Service office in Sterling.
"Yes, our office got fried pretty good," said Jonathan Blaes, a Weather Service meteorologist. The storm zapped about $40,000 worth of computer equipment, Blaes said.
State climatologist Pat Michaels said this year's storms have not been more severe than usual, but their timing has been bad. People have often been fooled by clear weather earlier in the day, he said.
"There have been a lot of thunderstorms this year that are occurring late in the afternoon," he said. "These were days that were initially sunny, so people were outside."
GeoMet Data Services Inc. in Tucson, Ariz., is a national lightning detection service that tracks strikes for Virginia Power.
Since February, there have been 147,000 lightning strikes recorded in the eastern two-thirds of Virginia, said Bob Greer, a senior meteorologist with the utility's Richmond office. There were nearly 82,000 strikes for the same period in 1993, he said.
Although there have been more strikes than normal this year, Greer said, the number is a little deceiving.
"Last June was a fairly dry period," Greer said. "There weren't a whole lot of thunderstorms or activity. . . . So the number for 1993 was less than normal."
Lightning has been blamed for several deaths. Last month, five members of a West Virginia family on a boating trip were struck after they sought shelter under a tree, police said.
In May, Ralph E. Davis III, 26, was struck by a lightning bolt as he was playing golf in Henrico County. Police also said he apparently sought shelter under a tree.
Tom Shaughness, a Richmond resident who likes to play late-afternoon golf several times a week, said that experienced players know how to work around storms.
Shaughness said he turns on The Weather Channel before he heads out. If a storm's looming in one area of Richmond, he'll trek over to a course on the other side of the city.
But, he said, if the television screen shows "a whole lot of clouds all over, I go home and eat dinner."
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB