A word to the wise on lightning strikes.

Esav Benyamin

Esav Benyamin

MidniteSuperMod
Joined
Apr 6, 2000
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I just got my weekly Snopes update and a good reminder about lightning with some facts I hadn't known.

First, electronic devices like iPods and cellphones will make the effects of a strike much worse, and second, lightning is a bigger storm-related killer than hurricanes or tornadoes, and third, you can be struck out of a clear sky, miles away from the storm that generated the bolt.

Check out the entry at iFried.
 
Yes, I was listening to the AM news station about the Ipod crap, while a thunderstorm was blowing in. The AM station clearly told me that lightning was closer than the thunder would have. Clear skies, sun, no rain, but tons of AM static. I am now convinced that if you are going to be out on the water, or away from a car or structure, tuning your radio to the AM will let you know the lightning risk much better than any forecast on the TV or FM.

low tech, don't ya love it.

later
xdshooter
 
That's a neat idea. I carry a pocket-sized radio when I'm far from home.

Many years ago, I used to go to Central Park in NYC early Monday mornings. There's a lake there where they rent rowboats, and over the weekend, people often left the boats drifting. I would go there, find a paddle (rarely two :p ) and get in a boat and row around until the staff came out and shrieked at me to get out of the boat! :D

One afternoon I figured I owed them a few bucks for the fun I'd already had, so I rented a boat, paying real money to do what I'd been doing for free.

I quickly rowed out to the middle of the lake -- and looked up to see a rapidly approaching STORM. BIG black clouds across half the sky. RUMBLE of thunder. I rowed so fast ... back to the dock, head for home, got inside BAROOM !!! The sky opened up.

Whew. I decided God didn't want me paying for rowboats after that.
 
If you want to see some interesting stuff do research on 'ball lightning ' ,incredible ! A friend in Florida , the lightning capital, just lost all his amateur radio gear, all appliances ,damaged much of the wiring in the house ! You don't want to be on the phone or be near anything electric or even near metal plumbing when lightning strikes !!
 
mete said:
If you want to see some interesting stuff do research on 'ball lightning ' ,incredible ! A friend in Florida , the lightning capital, just lost all his amateur radio gear, all appliances ,damaged much of the wiring in the house ! You don't want to be on the phone or be near anything electric or even near metal plumbing when lightning strikes !!
Click to expand...

You bring up a very good point and that is you should not use a corded phone when there is an electrical storm. Many years ago, a man died from a lightning strike while on his corded phone, in his house. Apparently his widow tried to sue the telephone company. The judge dismissed the case saying something to the effect of, "Anybody stupid enough to be on a (corded - no cordless or cell phones at that time) phone during a thunderstorm is asking for trouble."

Also, a good point about the metal plumbing. My mother-in-law was hit while during dishes. (The lightning hit the house). When I heard this, it explained a lot :rolleyes: .

And, outdoors, apparently the mouth of a cave is a bad place.

Doc
 
I was out mountain biking today and experienced one of those FLASH...BANG!!! strikes. Maybe a third of a second between lightning and thunder. My riding partner was fixing a broken cable when it hit. I told him to hurry it up, I don't like riding around on a giant lightning rod in the mountains. :eek:
 
...one of those FLASH...BANG!!! strikes. Maybe a third of a second between lightning and thunder.
Click to expand...

We had a thunderstorm recently that hardly dropped much rain but the lightning must have been right overhead, almost instantaneous lightning and thunder. Not a great feeling.
 
I live up on a hill, and my house has been hit by lightening a few times. It sounds like someone striking the house moderatly on the wall with a hammer, followed instantainiously by a loud electrical -SNAP-Boom baboom of the thunder. Sometimes when that happens I find a fuse out on the electrical pannel. I use a surge trap that I wired directly into the pannel, along with one that was installed on the pole by the electrical utility because I am the last house on the line. I have been in this house for 25 years and so far only lost a light bulb or two and nothing too serious.

However, in the first year here the drilled well cap was hit by lightening. After the storm I had sand and mud coming out of the tap for a couple of days. The well people told me to look for a shiny spot on the cap, which would indicate that it was hit. It was indeed hit. So I built a dog house over it to help insulate it from electrical charges, and it has never been a lightening problem since.

Another
 
I was in the Sierras with the scouts on 7/10 when an afternoon t-storm rolled up the valley over us. Most of the kids were afraid of the thunder and made a bee line back to camp to avoid the rain. My son just left his shirt off and enjoyed the warm day.

I recently learned a tractor can be a very dangerous place to be in a t-storm. If there is no enclosed cab the electrical flow is not just on the outside of the vehicle like with a car. Also if an implement like rippers are in the ground the tractor is an excellent path to ground.
 
Hey Esav...

Great post...

Every year several golfers get hit by lightening..
I'm not sure if they were swinging at the time, but I know alot of them are standing under trees during the strikes...

Standing under a tree for shelter in a lightening storm is probably one of the worst places to be...

A couple of years ago while fishing in Lake St.Clair a fisherman was struck when lightening hit the Graphite rod he was holding.. Graphite is highly conductive...

Thanks

Eric
O/ST
 
I had a relative many decades back who was reportedly sitting on the toilet during a lightning storm. Seems a lightning bolt hit a tree, and the electricity traveled along (and vaporized) a wire clothesline attached to the tree, then went into whatever metal fixture on the house was holding up the clothesline on the other end, ultimately jumping into the plumbing of the house. :eek: Relative survived and apparently had no lasting major damage, but did have a most-unpleasant experience.
 
mete said:
If you want to see some interesting stuff do research on 'ball lightning ' ,incredible ! A friend in Florida , the lightning capital, just lost all his amateur radio gear, all appliances ,damaged much of the wiring in the house ! You don't want to be on the phone or be near anything electric or even near metal plumbing when lightning strikes !!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I grew up in southwest Florida and lightning is a major issue there. When my family moved there we kinda lucked out. A previous owner was a ham radio buff, so the house had a 40' antenna that was very well grounded. This had the bonus of protecting the rest of the house very well, until my Dad sold it one day, and within the year we lost the television and our phones twice. I've also seen lightning strike a concrete seawall and a couple pine trees. Lightning that knocks the very top off of a pine makes some of the best lighter knot.

Ranchers lose cattle to strikes often enough that it's considered a normal thing. My wife's uncle used to have a ranch on lake Toho just outside Kissimee, that's pretty much part of lightning alley. You go out after a thunderstorm and watch for the buzzards, they'll point you to the scene. Otherwise you just find the carcass one day out and about. Most times there's no visible damage, they just got electrocuted from a nearby strike, more rarely it's a direct hit and the hide will be blown open - very nasty.

One of the few benefits of all that lightning is that it's pretty easy to find fulgurites, big ones will go several feet into the ground.
 
When my mother was a teenager she was going through the outer aluminum door when BLAM!!, she was blasted back in. All she saw was a bright flash and found herself on her ass. My grand parents owned an auto wreckers and she was going out to feed the dogs. Aparently some guy was also leaning into a truck talking to another guy right by the house, with his forearms resting on the door. This guy was burnt on his arms were they rested on the truck window after the strike. Heard the story 30 years ago, that's all I remember.
 
Normark said:
Hey Esav...

Great post...

Every year several golfers get hit by lightening..
...
O/ST
Click to expand...

Wasn't it Lee Trevino who advised that when caught in a lightning storm while golfing to hold up a 2 iron, because "even God can't hit a 2 iron" :)
 
Hey Walkabout...

I have No Idea..

I understand Women better than I understand Sports,, and that ain't saying much!!!

:)

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
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