Awesome Lightning Experience
 

A friend & I were sitting on my porch Sat. watching the torrential rainfall of Dennis. We could hear ocasional thunder very far away.
All the sudden BOOM!... The lightning had struck a mere 80 yds from where we were sitting. The tree was an 100 ft. hickory and it blew the whole damn top out of the tree. We found debris 100 yds. away. We were looking directly at the tree when the strike occured. Pieces of wood like 2 x 4's were like projectiles suspended in the air.
I fell lucky that noone was hurt (except for the skid marks in our drawers). This is probably the most awesome experience I've ever had when it comes to nature. Pardon the poor quality of the images.. Guess you had to be there.
What an awesome display of POWER.
Never been looking at lightning when it struck until now. Scared the hell outa capnhowdy.

Interesting facts:

Lightning can heat the air up to 30,000 degrees Celcius. Temperature of the surface of the Sun, 6000 degrees Celcius.

Lightning can produce x-rays at energies more than 10,000,000 electron volts. The chest x-ray you had during your last physical exam was about 125,000 volts.

A Bolt Out Of The Blue. Joseph R. Dwyer. Scientific American, May 2005.

Lightning once destroyed a tree no more than 20 feet from my tent at summer camp.

I was on the other side of the lake, though.

I did see it happen, though, and it was pretty impressive.

I was in a car when lightning stike blew up a tree about fifteen feet from the car. Embers (in the rain mind you) blew across the hood of our car. the whole thing rocked like a cheap roller coaster. We thought we had been hit since we had bikes on the roof (and probably we also had guilty consciences).

Did you save the pieces for BBQing? :yum:

Oh, and is the tree ok?

So your life flashed before your eyes and it looked like; Oh, you braggart, you. :lol:

better than 20 minutes of blank film, I suppose. :)

I haven't thought of that, dar. Great idea. I did however save a piece of bark that's about 5 ft x 2 ft (rounded). It's as smooth as glass on the inside. I plan to use it on an art project.
As for the tree.... I doubt it will survive. I mean there's only HALF a tree there.
Funny thing about it.... I never saw a flash of light. I wonder why? :question:

The flash of light comes when the circuit is completed and the flow of electrons superheats the air (and water, dust, etc.) around it. By then you were having visions of your morning wood floating in the air. :)

nothing like that good morning wood...
reminds me of pine trees and wild hickory nuts.

You guys! Get a room!

:D

Surprisingly enough, I just learned that one of the safest places to bo during a lightning storm is in a METAL- TOPPED VEHICLE. wierd....

Must be fun in an airplane. I guess it happens all the time, and isn't too big a deal...

With rubber tires. Don't forget that part.

Oh, and whatever you do, don't touch the gearshift.

The metal vehicle provides a path of least resistance. Big zaps, like lightning, mostly travel not through the metal but over the surface with the help of ionized air.
Lightning isn't out to get you, it want's Earth, just don't get between them. :headshake