{"id":71362,"date":"2026-07-18T19:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T19:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=71362"},"modified":"2026-07-21T16:29:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:29:59","slug":"hiker-killed-by-lightning-in-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/71362","title":{"rendered":"Hiker dies after being struck by lightning in Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_g18_vis_ir_UT.mp4\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>5-minute GOES-18 Visible images (left) and Infrared Window images (right), from 1536-1831 UTC on 18 July<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-18 <em>(GOES-West)<\/em> Visible and Infrared Window images <strong><em>(above)<\/em><\/strong> showed the rapid development of a relatively compact thunderstorm east-southeast of Salt Lake City on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov\/dailywxmap\/index_20260718.html\">18 July 2026<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_1741utc_g18_ir_cursor_sample.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_1741utc_g18_ir_cursor_sample.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Cursor sample of the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature at 1741 UTC on 18 July [click to enlarge]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The coldest thunderstorm cloud-top infrared brightness temperature was -48.76 C at 1741 UTC <strong><em>(above)<\/em><\/strong> &#8212; which represented an altitude just below the Most Unstable (MU) air parcel&#8217;s Equilibrium Level (EL), according to a plot of 1800 UTC rawinsonde data from Salt Lake City <strong><em>(below)<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_1800utc_kslc_raob.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_1800utc_kslc_raob.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Plot of rawinsonde data from Salt Lake City at 1800 UTC on 18 July [click to enlarge]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This thunderstorm produced GOES-18 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goes-r.gov\/spacesegment\/glm.html\">GLM<\/a><\/strong>-detected lightning activity from 1726-1816 UTC <em><strong>(below)<\/strong><\/em> &#8212; beginning 5 minutes after the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/probsevere\/lc\/\">LightningCast<\/a><\/strong> probability first exceeded 75% (violet contours), and 10 minutes after the probability first exceeded 50% (green contours). The parallax-adjusted LightningCast product was used in this case, to portray the highest probability of lightning at the surface (instead of at the cloud top). Tragically, a hiker died after being struck by lightning near American Fork Twin Peaks (which is located about 4 miles southwest of Alta). (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tetongravity.com\/hiker-killed-by-lightning-strike-above-alta-ski-area\/\">media report<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_g18_vis_ir_glm_lcast_UT.mp4\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>5-minute GOES-18 Visible images (left) and Infrared Window images (right) with overlays of GLM Flash Extent Density, GLM Flash Points and LightningCast Probability, from 1536-1831 UTC on 18 July<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A time series of GOES-18 LightningCast probability and GLM flash counts in the vicinity of Heber City Municipal Airport (KHCR) &#8212; the closest airport to the fatal lightning event &#8212; is shown below. In addition, at 1756 UTC lightning in the distance was noted at Salt Lake City (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_1765utc_g18_vis_ir_kslcMETAR.png\">KSLC<\/a><\/strong>) and Provo (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_1756utc_g18_vis_ir_kpvuMETAR.png\">KPVU<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_g18_lightningCast_KHCR.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_g18_lightningCast_KHCR.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Time series of GOES-18 LightningCast probability (pink) and GLM flash counts (blue dots) within 8 miles of Heber City Municipal Airport (KHCR), from 1601-1831 UTC on 18 July [click to enlarge]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The largest GOES-18 GLM Flash Point area in the vicinity of Alta was 228 km<sup>2<\/sup> at 1806 UTC <strong><em>(below)<\/em><\/strong>. Note that the Flash Point appeared just south of the cluster of large Flash Extent Density pixels &#8212; this is because gridded GLM products (such as Flash Extent Density) are mapped to correspond to a mean cloud top height, in contrast to the Flash Points which are mapped to correspond to the surface location of the lightning.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_1806utc_g18_vis_ir_glmFED_glmFP_cursor_sample.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/07\/260718_1806utc_g18_vis_ir_glmFED_glmFP_cursor_sample.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Cursor sample of GOES-18 GLM Flash Extent Density and GLM Flash Point at 1806 UTC on 18 July [click to enlarge]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-bluesky-social wp-block-embed-bluesky-social\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:nqylhcv3d4brakjsbzeku6tj\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mqxqp7njnk2g\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreihxzoc3i3drqygsxbuphdyyppynqdgmu7wgfe3e6pq4o2qsfhcmli\"><p lang=\"en\">This is the fifth known U.S. lightning fatality of 2026 and the first in Utah since August 2024. 13 hikers have been killed by lightning since 2006. Know the forecast before your hike and head to a safe place when you see building clouds or hear thunder!kutv.com\/news\/local\/h&#8230;<\/p>&mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:nqylhcv3d4brakjsbzeku6tj?ref_src=embed\">National Lightning Safety Council (@lightningsafety.bsky.social)<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:nqylhcv3d4brakjsbzeku6tj\/post\/3mqxqp7njnk2g?ref_src=embed\">2026-07-19T02:37:05.509Z<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/static\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Visible and Infrared Window images (above) showed the rapid development of a relatively compact thunderstorm east-southeast of Salt Lake City on 18 July 2026. The coldest thunderstorm cloud-top infrared brightness temperature was -48.76 C at 1741 UTC (above) &#8212; which represented an altitude just below the Most Unstable (MU) air [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":71396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,76,114,30,115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-convection","category-glm","category-goes-18","category-lightning","category-lightningcast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71362"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71412,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71362\/revisions\/71412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}