Media Blames Blackout on Lightning Strike; WeatherMatrix Says "No"

6000 Weather Enthusiasts Across The World

Updating 8:45 PM 8/14/03...Finally... MSNBC reports: "The Canadian defense minister’s office, however, told NBC News that the report was wrong, while the National Weather Service said there was no lightning within hundreds of miles of the Niagara area."

Credit

...WeatherMatrix.Net Headline 7:45 PM 8/14/03...

Currently 50 million people in the Northeast US and Southeast Canada are without power due to a power blackout. From DrudgeReport.com...

CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: BLACKOUT STARTED WITH LIGHTNING STRIKE AT POWER PLANT AT NIAGARA, NY... CNN.com also reporting this now.

Here is a link to the statement. See his site and other major news sites such as CNN.com for continuing updates.HOWEVER... looking at the official record from Vaisala Inc., I do not see any lightning strikes in that time period anywhere near New York State in the 15 minutes proceeding 4pm (20:00Z). See also animation.

SOURCE: (C) Vaisala / FlightBrief.com

Also the indicates nothing but clutter and a weak lake front at the time:NEXRAD radar archive from UCAR

AccuWeather Agrees... State Radar at 4pm

SOURCE: (C) AccuWeather.com Professional

In fact, according to NASA satellites, there were hardly any clouds over the Buffalo/Niagara area at the time!

See also Satellite Animation Official weather observation from government at Niagara at 4pm: MOSTLY SUNNY

Canada has their own separate radar and lightning detection system but I do not have access to archives of thisdata... but the U.S. weather observation near Niagara should be sufficient and covers into Canada.

--WeatherMatrix Founder & Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell info@weathermatrix.net