Weekly wrap-up: Thunderstorms cut Lollapalooza short; Record heat bakes northwestern US

By Katy Galimberti, AccuWeather staff writer

August 4,2017, 7:00:06AM,EDT

 

Three construction workers were struck by lightning in Indianapolis, Indiana, this week. One man was taken to a hospital after going into cardiac arrest, according to Indianapolis Star. The other two were treated for minor injuries.

The three men were paving a parking lot at a high school when a storm appeared. They took shelter under a tree, but a nearby lightning strike knocked them off their feet.
A storm forced organizers to evacuate thousands of festivalgoers at Lollapalooza in Chicago on Thursday.
Approaching thunderstorms prompted the early end to the festival's first day as Lorde and Muse were performing their headline acts.


Heat baked the northwestern United States this week, shattering records and leaving residents to scramble to find fans and air conditioning units.
The high in Portland, Oregon, topped 103 F on Wednesday, a new daily record. Temperatures in Seattle hit into the 90s, more than 10 degrees above normal for this time of year.

A man races away as a jet begins to spray toward him at the International Fountain at the Seattle Center during a heat wave Wednesday, Aug. 2,2017, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Smoke from wildfires in British Columbia exacerbated poor air quality in portions of Washington and Oregon from Wednesday afternoon into Thursday. The smoke was thick enough to hold temperatures back by a few degrees in some locations.
Tropical Storm Emily, the fifth named storm in the Atlantic this hurricane season, washed Florida with rain this week.
The system formed quickly near Tampa, Florida, from a cell of non-tropical thunderstorms.
"Emily started off as a small swirl of thunderstorms that quickly grew and strengthened during Sunday night," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. "Since this occurred so close to the Florida coast, it moved onshore in a few hours."
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Lightning killed 33 people in eastern India early this week as monsoon thunderstorms barreled over the region.
The deadly strikes occurred in the state of Odisha. Most of the 33 victims were working in fields, according to First Post. The monsoon is being blamed for the deaths of nearly 700 people across India in recent weeks, according to The Guardian.
More than 130 people were injured as Typhoon Nesat slammed into Taiwan and southeastern China with Tropical Storm Haitang quickly following behind.

A police officer controls the traffic in front of a tree uprooted by strong winds caused by Typhoon Nesat in Taipei, Taiwan on 30 July 2017. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

Nesat was a typhoon with its strength equal to that of a Category 1 hurricane in the eastern Pacific or Atlantic basins when it made landfall in Taiwan on Saturday evening, local time.
Less than 24 hours later, Tropical Storm Haitang moved into southern Taiwan. The combination of the two tropical systems unloaded extreme rainfall totals across the mountains and southern Taiwan.
NOAA forecasters are warning of an 80 percent chance of geomagnetic storms over the weekend. This could lead to a stunning display of auroras in high-altitude locations.
In some cases, geomagnetic storms can disrupt satellite technology.