Lightening strike

[Mike_Kanzer]

I had a 8 x 16 foot wood garden shed out behind my house next to a big butternut tree. My wife came home and found the shed fully engulfed in flames. A thunderstorm had just come thru the area and had a lot of lightening in it. The tree had bark blasted off it about 2/3 the way up. We think it was hit by lightning and then probably it hit the shed. I lost a nice Stihl chainsaw, rototiller, push mower, a bunch of garden tools and an aluminum 11 ft multi ladder. The only part of the ladder still intact was the steel hinges. Small globs of aluminum were in the ashes. We have had lightning strikes on our property before as we live on top of a small hill I have lightning rods on the house, barn and run in sheds. The fire department got there in time to water down the embers.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

The lawnmower is going to need a new coat of paint.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Hope you had insurance. At least your expensive toys got spared.

 

[Billrog]

Sorry to hear your stroke of misfortune Mike. I see a project for you Kubota and some new possessions in your future.

 

[TractorGuy]

Man sorry to hear of your loss! Fire Department would have done you better to let it burn to ashes at that point.

The lawnmower is going to need a new coat of paint.

I think that'll buff out.

 

[Spanner]

The lawnmower is going to need a new coat of paint.

Suggest an oil-change and you may need a new recoil rope!

Sorry for your bad-luck. Glad that your house is ok though. :thumbsup:

I also see a bow-saw, Hi-lift jack, wheelbarrow... Anybody else want to play 'Spot The Tools'?

 

[Mike_Kanzer]

Fortunately my Kubota and my JD Gator live over at the barn.

 

[CalG]

looks like a fire started in the shed. The charr and ash tell the story.

Combustibles....

I have had two strikes in recent years. both blew 100 foot tall conifers to kingdom come and beyond. Splinters landing 30 yards from the strike. The first one took out the well pump.
The second smoldered for days and sounded like a cannon shot.

We are only spectators in this world. We don't call the shots.

 

[two_bit_score]

Never ceases to amaze me, the power of nature!

Glad no one was injured!

TBS

 

[Alien]

Holy cow! How darned unfortunate. Sure didn't leave you much. It would devastate me if that happened.
We are going through a thunderstorm right at this moment with hail happening not far away. Our first storm of the year and the rain is desperately needed.

 

[Thomas]

Dang Glad every one okay.

 

[oosik]

The "lucky" part is that nobody was near the tree or shed when the strike occurred. From what I can tell - I've had three strikes here on the property. One I know of and two others. Long gouges up the tallest pines tell the story.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry to hear this. Lightning can be really scary. I've never seen a direct hit on my land, but I've been close enough to see the flash and only count to two before hearing it. I'm told the rule of thumb is that if you can count to five, you are in danger!!!

Client of mine in the city of Tyler was at work when a storm came through and her pine trees where struck. It cut a strip through the bark of tree up high, wound its way around, jumped to other trees and then hit her lawn. She came home to no electronics in her house. TV, computer, phone, appliances and just about everything else plugged into an outlet where all fried. A buddy of mine who is a Master Electrician came out and looked over the wiring. Half a dozen breakers where ruined, but he couldn't find any damaged wiring. He thinks the electricity traveled across the wet grass 50 feet to her natural gas pipe, and came into the house there. Then it found her ground wire, and entered her breaker box. The burn marks in the box are all off of the main ground wire.

Friends have said that they heard it hit almost a mile away.

I honestly had no idea that lightning would travel that far from a hit and cause so much damage.

 

[Mike_Kanzer]

I did have a gallon of gas and two gallons of used motor oil in the shed which certainly got the fire going really well. I guess I can now replace the shed without having to do any demo!

 

[CobyRupert]

Sorry to hear this. Lightning can be really scary. I've never seen a direct hit on my land, but I've been close enough to see the flash and only count to two before hearing it. I'm told the rule of thumb is that if you can count to five, you are in danger!!!

Client of mine in the city of Tyler was at work when a storm came through and her pine trees where struck. It cut a strip through the bark of tree up high, wound its way around, jumped to other trees and then hit her lawn. She came home to no electronics in her house. TV, computer, phone, appliances and just about everything else plugged into an outlet where all fried. A buddy of mine who is a Master Electrician came out and looked over the wiring. Half a dozen breakers where ruined, but he couldn't find any damaged wiring. He thinks the electricity traveled across the wet grass 50 feet to her natural gas pipe, and came into the house there. Then it found her ground wire, and entered her breaker box. The burn marks in the box are all off of the main ground wire.

Friends have said that they heard it hit almost a mile away.

I honestly had no idea that lightning would travel that far from a hit and cause so much damage.

It may be more likely that instead of traveling through the ground for a mile and "raising" her ground (earth) voltage to a damaging level, that the lightning hit a power line a mile away and had a good power line (low resistance) conductor to enter her house through her utility service as it was "looking" for ground. It probably found the ground in her panelboard (thus) the marks, meanwhile it raised the voltage on her circuits to a level where it fried her breakers and electronics plugged into them. :2cents:

.

 

[dmccarty]

The "lucky" part is that nobody was near the tree or shed when the strike occurred. From what I can tell - I've had three strikes here on the property. One I know of and two others. Long gouges up the tallest pines tell the story.

Yep.

I think it was back in 2013 and I needed to go split some firewood. At the time, I was splitting firewood under a big Red Oak. I knew a front was on the way so I checked radar and the storm was 20-30 miles away. Figured there was no point in going out to work since I would have to stop in a few hours at best so I called my parents to see how they were doing.

I was inside the house on the cell phone and decided to look out the window to the west to see if there were any clouds on the way. The sky was completely empty. Nothing but blue sky...

Then there was a FLASH of WHITE light the likes of which I had never seen before. :shocked::confused3:

Twas a flash of lightning that hit the Red Oak I would have been standing under splitting firewood. :shocked::shocked::shocked:

Bark blew a good 100 feet from the tree. The lights went out and came back on. The cell call dropped.

NO DAMAGE at all except to the tree. The leaves were still on the tree and stayed green for months. Then one day they were all brown. :confused3: Very odd. You could see the where the bark blew off the tree/lightning hit. Pretty obvious.

Not sure I would have survived if I had been splitting wood that day.

NO clouds in the sky and that front was 20-30 miles away...

Might just be me, but that was kinda scary and worrisome.

The front came on through and produced tornadoes south of us and killed a few people. :shocked::shocked::shocked:

Looks like it tried to get me first but I dodged it and used up one of my nine lives.

Lightning is some bad stuff...

Later,
Dan

 

[outinthetalgrass]

explosion in a river (re post Lightning strikes a river) - YouTube

That video always reminds me of how much power is in lightning.

 

[CobyRupert]

Then there was a FLASH of WHITE light the likes of which I had never seen before. :shocked::confused3:

Twas a flash of lightning that hit the Red Oak I would have been standing under splitting firewood. :shocked::shocked::shocked:

Bark blew a good 100 feet from the tree.
Not sure I would have survived if I had been splitting wood that day.

Later,
Dan

Strange as it sounds, your survival may of depended on how far apart you keep you feet when splitting wood, or which direction you are facing.

Let's say that when struck, the base of the tree became energized to 20,000 volts, 5' away the ground is 15,000 volts, 10' at 10,000 volts, etc..., that is for every foot away the tree, the difference in voltage on the ground is 1000V. (imagine concentric circles around the tree representing different voltage levels) In this example, if you have your feet 1' apart such that your standing across 1000 volts, the lightning will use you as a better conductor than the dirt, however if you turn 90 degrees, or have your feet together, your like a bird on a power line and may not get injured.

This is why cattle and horses are more susceptible from tree strikes, because their legs are so far apart that the voltage difference of the ground from their front legs to back is greater.

 

[dmccarty]

Strange as it sounds, your survival may of depended on how far apart you keep you feet when splitting wood, or which direction you are facing.

Let's say that when struck, the base of the tree became energized to 20,000 volts, 5' away the ground is 15,000 volts, 10' at 10,000 volts, etc..., that is for every foot away the tree, the difference in voltage on the ground is 1000V. (imagine concentric circles around the tree representing different voltage levels) In this example, if you have your feet 1' apart such that your standing across 1000 volts, the lightning will use you as a better conductor than the dirt, however if you turn 90 degrees, or have your feet together, your like a bird on a power line and may not get injured.

This is why cattle and horses are more susceptible from tree strikes, because their legs are so far apart that the voltage difference of the ground from their front legs to back is greater.

I think I would have died. I really think I would have died after what you said. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Based on the damage to the bark, I would have been 90's to the strike, aka, power line and I would have been using a wood splitter so I would have been standing up with feet close together. :shocked:

There is a guy in our area that has been struck by lightning multiple times. I don't really want to start a contest with him to see who gets the most "hits." :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[k0ua]

It may be more likely that instead of traveling through the ground for a mile and "raising" her ground (earth) voltage to a damaging level, that the lightning hit a power line a mile away and had a good power line (low resistance) conductor to enter her house through her utility service as it was "looking" for ground. It probably found the ground in her panelboard (thus) the marks, meanwhile it raised the voltage on her circuits to a level where it fried her breakers and electronics plugged into them. :2cents:

.

Yup..