A few weeks ago I was mowing the lawn on a humid Saturday, rushing to finish before the approaching storm. You're right to take the advice that if you can hear it or see it, then you are in striking distance. The bolt wasn't blue, however what I saw was a bright flesh-like redness, the same colour one might see if you shine a flash-light through your hand in the dark... I figured that I had blinked at the moment when it hit the neighbor's aluminum roof and traveled to the nearby ground. It happened, of course, extremely fast. Leaving me to question if it had happened at all, that is until the neighbor came rushing out thinking I'd just been killed. Needless to say the lawn remained 9/10ths finished as I reflected on what had just occurred.
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Struck by lightning on camera
http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_love_the_slow_loris/2646424593/
The article is excellent. It has focussed on the science of lightning in a very interesting way. Geographical and astronomical phenomena interests me a lot as I am doing my masters in Geography. This article has really helped me a lot. I was not aware of many static facts like speed of lightning, temperature etc. I wonder if earth is struck many times a day by lightning, why scientists are not getting success in generating electricity from it? If we can handle huge temperature and high radiation from nuclear fission reaction then why can't lightning by designing vast conductors in storm prone area. Its a paradox !
I am writing this from my storm swept island in Georgian Bay - where the kind of sudden tempest described is very common. In our case, we can hear the thunder 40 - 60 km away, as both heard outside and seen on Environment Canada's weather radar system. The benefits of having satellite internet on so remote a rock.
Generally the lightning does give lots of warning, with the towering black clouds and ominous rumbles. Commuting via boat; we do take these things seriously.
I have experienced a bolt from the blue, however. My home in Burlington is equipped with lightning rods, as is the island cottage. I expected the cottage to get hit, but not the home. In fact, both my Burlington homes have been hit, and both times the lightning rods worked.
My daughter used our backyard swimming pool to run a swimming lesson business for five summers. She would stop all lessons at the first sound of thunder, as she should. One clear afternoon at about 3:30 she was in the pool with two small children. No warning thunder and no ominous black clouds. Just a bolt from the blue.
It exploded against the chimney lightning rod with a bang that brought neighbours running. The flash was intense and one person saw a blue flash arc across the lawn away from the pool. The distance from pool and children to the rod was twenty feet. Without that rod to intercept the strike......
No, lightning rods don't attract lightning. At least not unless it is within 50 m of the ground and impact is imminent. So without the rod, the fence, pool, diving board, or anything else could have been hit. The odds of surviving are pretty much zero. With the rod, the downcomer cable took the hit, the ground system dissipated the charge safely on the other side of the house and the blue flash across the lawn traced the path of the excessive charge that could not dissipate in the earth fast enough.
The only damage was from a pencil sized hole in the rod, burned paint along the side of the house, and three very badly frightened people.
I recently drove over a mountain in New Hampshire and found that I had driven directly into a lighting storm. I was driving a motorcycle at the time. I couldn't go back up the mountain, I didn't want to hide in the trees, so I just kept going forward and praying. I have never been so scared in my life.
Thank you for this article Ms. Frayne I love your writing.
Not so smart Mike! I love riding in the rain but I try to avoid it for that reason.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exoz0B6JvRw
Great article!
I'm an electrical engineer who lives in what is usually called the lightning capital of the USA, in Central Florida. From time to time I lecture on lightning, including the limited means available to reduce the probabilties of death, injury or property damage, to communities, civic organizations and municipalities. It is remarkable that with all the advances science has made in the past 250 years that the best design for an air terminal (usually called a lightning protector) is still pretty much Ben Franklin's design of around 1750; in fact, it's called a Franklin terminal. Of course, there are some additional measures available to protect equipment, but in the final analysis nothing is perfect. A direct strike will vaporize pretty much most everything.
I would like to commend Ms. Frayne for an article accurate in its description of lightning science and its recommendations, free of the usual myths that accompany any discussion of lightning, particularly the ones that metal "atracts" lightning or that rubber sneakers or vehicle tires can insulate from lighting.
Thank you for a job well done!
as i grew in india. time of monsoon, always very mighy and almost felt like no air flowing.as soon rain will stop. even in very mild rain we all will come out with our folding bed and sleep with sheet on to avoid droplet direct. no one ever bother with lighing. there was a building called lighting in my town which was over 200 years old or more, had a crack through but no one ever hear about light falling. in my town alone over 100.00.000 people sleep night after night under lighting.now in canada no day go by when it does not strik.very very rare in whole india in newpaper lighting strikes. why here so much and not in india. and which country have the most.
my que is, why there
Our guide squinted at the sky and ordered us into our tents. “Get on your mats. Stay until I give the all-clear.” I lay down, marvelling at the near-dark at six o’clock.
