In regards to your post: This is the main reason that I started this thread. Hopefully, by sharing our experiences, our replies will serve as a reminder to all of us that Lightning is truly a dangerous and powerful force. Another notation in regards to lightning strikes is that a lightning strike can travel underground -up to 3 miles.I have been mowing when thunderstorms have caught me on the tractor. I could see the clouds but they did not look bad and I could not hear the thunder until it was close because of engine noise.
Last spring a front was arriving on Saturday afternoon. My plan was to go work on some firewood that was at the FPA(Firewood Processing Area)There is a great big oak tree at the FPA which provide nice shade during splitting sessions in the heat of the summer.
I checked radar and the front was a good 20-30 miles away. For some reason I decided to be lazy and not go work on firewood. I was partly not in the mood but I did not want to start and then have to stop when it started raining. At least that was my rationalization.
Instead, I got on the phone and called my parents. I guess because the front was approaching I kept looking out the windows to the west. There was a very bright and blinding flash of light followed by the loudest BOOM ever.
A lightning bolt had hit the shade tree at the FPA. If I had gone out there to work I would have been UNDER that shade tree.
One of the very scary things about that lightning strike was that the front was still 15-20 miles away and there was not a cloud in the sky. NOTHING.
That front ended spawning tornadoes to our south and one of which killed a bunch of people.
I have seen quite a few lightning strikes over the years and they are worrisome.
Later,
Dan
What do you personally do when a Thunderstorm approaches?
- Thread starter creekbend
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sweettractors
Advertiser
We have a employee who is a Vol Firefighter and Official weather watcher. He keeps us updated during working hours of approaching threatening weather. At Night we have a countywide automated phone call system setup from the National Weather service that calls our house phone when there is a watch or warning issued. Ken Sweet
k0ua
Epic Contributor
Ken if you are into that,,, tell me again why you don't have your Ham license?
Working with the NWS as a spotter is a natural.
James K0UA
Western
Super Member
I like "tame" storms, but am on high alert usually if it's a good mean one. I will have the weather radio on and monitor the NOAA site as long as I have Internet.
Major storms are one of the few things I have seen that lack any respect for my well being, sooo, I give them the respect they deserve, and if they say "tornado" I aint hanging around:laughing:
Major storms are one of the few things I have seen that lack any respect for my well being, sooo, I give them the respect they deserve, and if they say "tornado" I aint hanging around:laughing:
:thumbsup:
Nice pictures. I enjoy watching a good thunder and lightning storm, and you have captured them well.
Short Game
Veteran Member
I've always loved thunderstorms. I had only one hit near me. I was about 13 at the time. The lightning danced off a tall power pole right over my head. Me and the neighbor kid ran home faster than the speed of light.
I was in Tucson the third weekend in July (can't remember what year it was). Each evening there were amazing thunderstorms. One of those produced 28 ground strikes inside the city limits.
Where I live now, there are so many high things away from where I am, that the lightning seems never to hit very close to here.
dmccarty
Super Star Member
Our house is at the top of a hill. It is not a large hill and I would guess many people do not realize it is a high spot but it is the highest land for a good mile or more. There is a cell tower a mile away and we are almost level with the light on the tower. The buzzards and the hawks are constantly flying over our house because of the updrafts.
We also seem to get lightning strikes on a frequent basis. At the moment I can think of at three close lightning strikes including the one I described. I suspected there have been quite a few more.
Back in the 80's I was on a short term work assignment to Tampa FLA. We were in a room on the north side of the building. The room was maybe 20 feet deep but it was 75-100 feet long with the exterior wall being glass, glass, and more glass. I cannot remember which floor we were on but we looked down on the power and light poles outside of the building. While we were looking down at the poles they were pretty close.
One day a storm rolled in and we were watching the weather through the glass wall. We could see the ground strikes marching towards us.
As the storm got to the building a bolt of lightning hit one of the power poles that was maybe 50-75 feet away. That was interesting. :laughing:At one point during the assignment I drove home down I75. Around Sarasota is a river and quite a bit of wet land or at least there used to be. As I drove through this area there was a huge lightning storm that was striking the ground all around I75. Zeus was either really ticked off or he was having fun firing at the cars.
There were so many strikes I could not count them all. I75 at this point was quite a bit of above grade so I was looking down at the ground on the side of the Interstate. See those strikes hitting the ground over, and over, and over was awe inspiring and scaring. Yes the car SHOULD protect you but.... :laughing:This went on for a few minutes which made it that much more impressive.
Back in the 90's the wife's family rented a house near the ocean. It was not an ocean front lot but it was on a canal. We took our sea kayaks and one day I went out alone. Towards the afternoon I saw a front arriving which was moving fast with big thunder boomers and I could hear thunder getting closer. It is a point of discussion as to how at risk one is in a kayak on the water. I prefer to not find out via experiment so I hauled my fanny back to the house. :laughing: Barely made it too.
A weak hurricane had hit the island a few weeks prior so there was minor roof damage to some houses. All of these houses were built on stilts with the living space being what in most houses would be the second floor. After I locked up the kayak under the house I went upstairs to the porch to watch the storm. On the house next to use there were two men repairing the roof.
This storm was throwing a fair number of strikes and was very close. There were strikes hitting a few blocks over and these guys were still on the roof hammering away. These houses were just 2x4 walls with siding. I was not feeling real safe on the porch and inside did not feel that safe with the loud thunder booms moving the walls. The roofers finally got off the house when the lightning hit a power pole on the block past us. They waited until the storm was over them before getting off the roof. They could have been nailed, pun intended, well before they left the roof. I fully expected them to get hit. They were very lucky.
Later,
Dan
Short Game
Veteran Member
I'm just remembering going over the Siskiyou Mountains one night. The rain was like being underwater and the wipers could only stir the rain. The lightning was such that it was like the lights were on and only blinking off. There was more time lit up than dark. Very strange.
re:dmccarty. I use to live in Bradenton and worked in Sarasota off McIntosh and Fruitville. The river that you are referring to is the Myakka River or the Peace River. The Peace River is farther south, It was probably the Myakka. The Myacca State Park is off Clark-SR72. The Manatee River runs through Bradenton.
dmccarty
Super Star Member
It surely was not the Peace River because it was not peaceful with those lightning bolts hitting all over the place!
It must have been the Myakka River. I think Myakka in Seminole means Run Like He...ll Before Lighting Hits Your Fanny. Or something like that. :laughing:
Later,
Dan