On this date in 1943, the D.C. area’s worst-known lightning incident occurred when six soldiers were struck and killed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
“Six youthful soldier baseball players at Fort Belvoir, Va., who but a moment before had been receiving the plaudits of dozens of soldier spectators were killed instantly, and the onlookers narrowly escaped a similar fate when a bolt of lightning ripped through their midst at 4 p.m. yesterday,” the front page of The Washington Post reported the next day.
The Post said three other people were severely hurt. “A blinding flash, followed by a swishing sound and a terrible clap of thunder, plunged from the skies, scattering bodies in every direction,” The Post wrote.
Here are other notables from this day:
- Average high: 89
- Average low: 72
- Record high: 98 (2010)
- Record low: 55 (1919)
- Record rainfall: 1.64 inches (1878)
