Jesse Ferrell

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SPECIAL WEATHER REPORT...

June 17, 1987; 7:49 PM

This is part of my weather report archive. This article was not originally written for AccuWeather.com, where I started blogging in 2005. This article is about the 1987 Lightning Strike and originally appeared as part of a series of "Newspapers" that I produced on paper when I was between 11 and 16 years old.

NOTE: See "Glossary" at bottom for people/business/geographical terms used within.

TRANSCRIPT:

"It is black dark now at 8:25 pm. The sun set one minute ago and black clouds are moving in from the south. A similar thing happened as did last night. The anvil cloud from the East joined with the other storm and they both moved south but turned and are coming our way. It is raining heavily now. We just heard a very loud clap of thunder. The pump and all has been shut off.* J. Ferrell recorded a gust of 8.5 mph. Gusts in the trees are expected to be near 50 mph. The power just blinked... thunder every 4 seconds. Black clouds overhead... 8 pm cloud movement 1/2 mph, 8:37 pm cloud movement 60 mph. Lightning 3 strikes just seen... rain expected to already be 0.2"... Very windy... Winds ridiculous expected near 100 mph... 2 crack heard in the oak tree, top is leaning... live... hail reported... branches down on deck... close lightning... Frank* at Site*... horrible winds... Sally on porch.* Trees [sic] A 10 by 10 hole has been blown in the side of the site, pieces of the paneling on the deck... we smell fire. The hall light has been blown out and a hole is expected to be blow in the floor of the Site. Everything is ruined. We now hear ambulances, police cars and fire trucks on the highway. Phone is out - just crackling. Splinters of wood all over Site..."

The accompanying special fold-out map in the next day's edition detailed the destruction:

GLOSSARY: D.E.R./ DOWN_ERE_RES. means "Down 'Ere Restaurant," a fictitious business that I ran when I was 10 years old. WWX & WWXY (Channel 5) were a fictitious radio and television station to which I "broadcast" local news & weather (to cassette tape). Frank was my father; Sally was my mother. "The Site" / "The Shop"refers to the workshop building behind the house.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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About This Blog

Jesse Ferrell
Jesse Ferrell's WeatherMatrix blog covers extreme weather worldwide with a concentration on weather photos and Social Media.