Topic: Lightning stories?

[Don R]

 Yesterday, we had a lightning strike so close that it set off the ionization smoke detector. There was no hiss or crackle sound at all just flash and boom all at once. It left me wondering if it went up not down.
  No previous thunder to speak of and just a typical Midwest storm squall blowing through. 5 minutes later the sun was out. No power outage or sirens so it must have hit a tree or something. so far I don't see any tree bark in the grass or stripes going down a tree.

[flybox1]

I was on a 60-mile backpacking trip in the Sierras near Tahoe @ about 10,000', 95F degree day, and afternoon thunderheads rolled through. 
We were right under them.  Fierce rain and hail.  No shelter.  Never came so close to shiitting my shorts

[MoMo]

ask Lee Trevino

[BomberMann650]

Was was riding my motorcycle thru lacey on May 4th.

With the lightning scattered across the sky, felt like I was in a David Mann painting.

[Johnie]

Taking you guys back to before you were born in the 60's. Parents took the family to the outdoor movies...remember those? You would drive up to a speaker and hook it on your side window. A storm came through and knocked out the power in the area so people were putting their metal speakers back into the metal poles and lightning struck the speaker next to our car. Man that was a flash / bang. No one hurt, but just blinded and deaf for a bit.

[Ridem32]

Taking you guys back to before you were born in the 60's. Parents took the family to the outdoor movies...remember those? You would drive up to a speaker and hook it on your side window. A storm came through and knocked out the power in the area so people were putting their metal speakers back into the metal poles and lightning struck the speaker next to our car. Man that was a flash / bang. No one hurt, but just blinded and deaf for a bit.

I'm in Mississippi and yes I remember the drive Ins. Most speakers would not even work lol.  We have one drive in left. It's about 2 hours from me but I have never been to that one.  But that was the REAL GOOD OLD DAYS


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[Duke McDukiedook]

For some reason during my younger years we were playing a rugby match in the middle of a supercell downpour with lightning strikes all around and silly me with metal cleats on my boots. I politely asked the ref about maybe delaying or calling the game since we were playing in the middlle of A FUKCING LIGHTNING STORM and he responded back with 'play on'. I was amazed none of us got stuck and we lost the damn match anyway. 

[J-Rod10]

Tried to finish a round if golf as a storm moved in a few years ago. Got to the 9th, and called it. Finishing up the hole, walking back to the cart. We were about 25 yards from the flag, lightning struck the flag pole. Loudest sound I have ever heard.

[Tim2005]

My friend's house got hit one night, the chimney was blown onto his lawn, without marking his car on the driveway in between.  As well as all the electrical appliances being ruined, every carpet had to be replaced due to burn marks below all the plug sockets.

He was in bed at the time, said it was terrifying.

[Bailgang]

About 10 years ago our youngest son was at a boy scout camp in New Mexico, as my son and his group were coming down from a hike they passed another group of scouts going up. As my son's group was heading back to camp a storm rolled in, my son's group was able to get to cover but the group they had passed that was going up didn't find cover soon enough and got a good jolt. No one in the group was directly hit by the lightning but they were close enough to it that they took a good shock which pretty much knocked them off their feet and one kid needed airlifted out. Everyone turned out to be fine including the kid that got airlifted however it did make national news and scared the daylights out of all us parents at home who knew nothing about it until we saw it on the news. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2007-07-30-nm-lightning_N.htm

[ken65]

About 20 years ago . I was sitting on the back steps and the wife was at the bottom of the steps.
Lightning struck out TV antenna the best we could tell . Wifey was about 7 meters away from it and i was around the corner.
White light , boom and a crackle noise. We both #$%*ted bricks.
TV, video ,stereo were cactus.
A storm was approaching but seemed like it was miles away.

[754]

........Hair raising tales.....

[Bailgang]

About 20 years ago . I was sitting on the back steps and the wife was at the bottom of the steps.
Lightning struck out TV antenna the best we could tell . Wifey was about 7 meters away from it and i was around the corner.
White light , boom and a crackle noise. We both #$%*ted bricks.
TV, video ,stereo were cactus.
A storm was approaching but seemed like it was miles away.

Back in the 70's when CB radios were the rage my dad had a base unit in the house hooked up to a 60' tall antenna outside, I just happened to be in the room where his CB base unit was set up when lightning hit the antenna. I saw the flash and heard the immediate KABOOM of the lightning but also noticed a another flash of light coming from behind me, that flash of light behind me was my dad's CB radio going poof. Yeah I about #$%*ted bricks too.

[eigenvector]

I have a cell tower about 200 yards away from me - I get lightning strikes all the time.

Had one hit so close the sky turned dark green, all the street lights went out, and there was dead silence for 2 minutes.  No thunder at all - must have been inside the corona or whatever that's called.

[riverfever]

Out here in CO it's sometimes difficult to tell when a storm is blowing in simply because you can't always see very far depending on where you are in the mountains. This is the case at my house. Several years ago I was sitting here watching tv when a storm blew in and I was literally reaching for the remote when I saw a flash and then, simultaneously, the flat screen exploded, the binoculars and candle holders on the window sill flew off and the window sill split lengthwise. I had no idea wtf happened. Then saw the smoke coming up from the window sill (from behind the wall).

On another occasion I was on the river and a storm blew in. It was still several miles away but on my backcast I felt something on my thumb. So I stopped casting and looked at my thumb and then saw a spark from my thumb to the graphite rod. Then almost shat my waders before throwing the rod and laying down as flat as possible and screaming like a girl. I waited it out several minutes and then walked on water to cross the river and sprint a mile through a field and back to the car.

I HATE lightning.

[Don R]

 My cousin's house got hit several times. Not on a hill or anything unusual, I guess he was just lucky. He finally moved. We always wondered if it was on an iron deposit or something.
 It blew the foil wallpaper off at the seams, every electrical item except the wire it's self was toast. Dryer vent blown off the wall and scorched siding.

[Duke McDukiedook]

About 20 years ago . I was sitting on the back steps and the wife was at the bottom of the steps.
Lightning struck out TV antenna the best we could tell . Wifey was about 7 meters away from it and i was around the corner.
White light , boom and a crackle noise. We both #$%*ted bricks.
TV, video ,stereo were cactus.
A storm was approaching but seemed like it was miles away.

I think the thought on that is the first moment you can hear thunder you are in the vicinity of lightning strikes that could hit anywhere. Assume you are in danger and get to safety.

[754]

 :-XSo of you guys that were that close. Did your hair stand up? Did you get a Fro?
Could you feel it in your body? How did any nearby animals or pets react?... I bet they know its coming...

[Don R]

 Today I noticed the white pine 30 feet from the corner of the house has a pair of stripes going down the side where the bark was blown off. I knew it was close.

[Bailgang]

:-XSo of you guys that were that close. Did your hair stand up? Did you get a Fro?
Could you feel it in your body? How did any nearby animals or pets react?... I bet they know its coming...

Many years ago a storm rolled in and knocked out the power at the company I worked for at the time. There was nothing we could do until power was restored so a bunch of us stood by an open bay door in the warehouse and watched natures light show. There was lightning all over even saw a transformer on a pole about a 1/4 mile away explode when it got nailed by a bolt of lightning .... which I gotta say was pretty cool to watch. During all this one of the guys was leaning up against the track that the bay door rode in and I saw him abruptly move away from it and right about that time all we saw was a big flash of light with a simultaneous kaboom followed by a crackling sound directly above our heads, that lightning bolt struck the roof where we were standing. Turned out the reason the guy backed away from the bay door track when he did was because right before that bolt hit he said it felt like every hair on his body was standing on end and he knew something was going on.

[riverfever]

The incident that happened at the house involved (I believe anyway) lightning striking a tall pine tree that's about 6' from the house/window. Then it must have travelled down the tree and through the ground to the house. It blew out the drywall mud and paint on the corner of the drywall where that metal protector is before finishing and then split the sill. My dog and I were on the couch about 6' away. She never flinched and I never would have guessed anything was about to hit the fan. Like I said, the storm was still well over the ridge and there was sunshine at the house. Initially, I was stunned (and deaf) and remember thinking, "Holy hell...the binoculars or candle holders blew up!" Then I realized that probably didn't happen.

When I was on the river and felt/saw the spark between my thumb and the graphite I didn't feel anything else except for the poo running down my leg. 

I've had some close calls on the water. Similar situation, I was standing on a boulder in the the river casting to a nice fish and I could hear thunder but was deep in a canyon at the time and it was sunny where we were. Next moment there was a flash and a loud bang right overhead as it hit a pine on the bank My buddy said he had never seen anything move as quickly as I did or scream as loudly either. We did the safest thing and hunkered down between several cabin sized boulders and sat out the storm with some a full flask of whiskey.

[ken65]

About 20 years ago . I was sitting on the back steps and the wife was at the bottom of the steps.
Lightning struck out TV antenna the best we could tell . Wifey was about 7 meters away from it and i was around the corner.
White light , boom and a crackle noise. We both #$%*ted bricks.
TV, video ,stereo were cactus.
A storm was approaching but seemed like it was miles away.

I think the thought on that is the first moment you can hear thunder you are in the vicinity of lightning strikes that could hit anywhere. Assume you are in danger and get to safety.

I love thunderstorms. I never get tired of watching them. Day or night.

[Don R]

 I'm usually watching storms on the deck a few feet from the tree. There was nothing to indicate there was anything to see that time just rain and one big one.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

There's been a couple riders hit and killed by lightning here in Colorado over the last 10 years or so.

[evanphi]

For some reason during my younger years we were playing a rugby match in the middle of a supercell downpour with lightning strikes all around and silly me with metal cleats on my boots. I politely asked the ref about maybe delaying or calling the game since we were playing in the middlle of A FUKCING LIGHTNING STORM and he responded back with 'play on'. I was amazed none of us got stuck and we lost the damn match anyway. 

Happened to me too, playing youth Soccer/Football. I was about... 10 I think. Saw the chain lightning approaching overhead, then strikes were coming down in the bay around us. Game kept going. Nuts. That would never happen now. A CHANCE of lightning and they will cancel a practice or match.

When I was in highschool I was a day-camp counselor during the summer for little kids (elementary school). The school I was at was next to our local small airport. We were outside for the afternoon when the air suddenly felt... different. Clouds got black, etc. I could see the wall of rain coming from over the hill behind the school. I just got the last kid inside when lightning struck a wind sock right across the street from us. Certainly the loudest sound I've ever experienced. No delay between the flash and the whump-bang that you feel/hear.