# Lightning Strikes - July is the deadliest month!



## Em in Ohio (Jul 9, 2020)

From Accuweather:  Two men died in Pennsylvania while under a tree stand.  The statistics show that July is the deadliest month for lightning deaths in the USA.  "Data from the National Lightning Safety Council (NLSC) show that the two fatalities increase the current year’s total lightning deaths for the United States to seven. Three of those deaths have occurred in July, which has historically been the most dangerous month of the year for fatal lightning strikes. Over the past 10 years, an average of eight people are killed by lightning each July."


----------



## Kaila (Jul 10, 2020)

In addition to the safety/precaution aspect,
 I also found it interesting and fun, starting some years ago,  when I learned that others, count, to see how long between the light flash and the thunderous sound that follows, to gauge how far away (or how close) the electrical storm is.
I still notice how much or little, time passes between the two, even if I don't count.


----------



## fmdog44 (Jul 10, 2020)

Houston has some of the loudest thunder I have ever heard.


----------



## Keesha (Jul 10, 2020)

Kaila said:


> In addition to the safety/precaution aspect,
> I also found it interesting and fun, starting some years ago,  when I learned that others, count, to see how long between the light flash and the thunderous sound that follows, to gauge how far away (or how close) the electrical storm is.
> I still notice how much or little, time passes between the two, even if I don't count.


That’s what we did too and when the storm moved closer in those seconds would become less.
We are having a thunderstorm now.
I love thunderstorms


----------



## Em in Ohio (Jul 13, 2020)

fmdog44 said:


> Houston has some of the loudest thunder I have ever heard.


I was on an airbase once in northeast Texas - all flatland and sky...  Saw heat lightening and heard outrageous thunder and then drenching rains...  very exciting!


----------



## RadishRose (Jul 13, 2020)

I saw 3 lightening strikes pretty close.

One struck the tower of the office building next to mine.

Another flash exploded maybe 4 feet away and about a foot off the pavement as we were running to out cars in the lot. That was scary- it was right there! I can't tell if was ground to sky, or sky to ground, but when it's right in front of you, jump back!

The third strike was the electrical wire outside. I was looking out of my window and watched it. Power went out. I called the electric co. to report it and send someone. She said...'it hadn;t been reported yet".... I said I was trying to report it NOW,

It looks like the brightest white light you've ever seen.









Unfortunately for men, lightning can also induce impotence and decrease libido in general


----------



## Don M. (Jul 13, 2020)

I used to enjoy watching lightning....UNTIL our house got struck back in the early 1980's.  We had one of those rooftop TV antennas, and it appears that the lightning targeted it...blew a 3ft. diameter hole in the family room ceiling, and melted half the wiring.  After 2 months, and over $11K in repairs, we were able to resume a normal life.  

Now, If I hear thunder, I stop what I am doing, and go indoors.  Standing under a tree is just asking for trouble.


----------



## Em in Ohio (Jul 13, 2020)

RadishRose said:


> I saw 3 lightening strikes pretty close.
> 
> One struck the tower of the office building next to mine.
> 
> ...


I'm glad you escaped damage from your lightning near-misses!  I've never seen images like this, with the lightning patterns - very interesting!  The only things that I have seen were lightning-struck trees or images of burned entry and exit wounds.  Now, I'm curious ... morbidly, I realize.  I'm guessing that it depends on whether it was a direct or indirect charge affecting a person's body...  hmmm.


----------



## Pappy (Jul 14, 2020)

I’ll never forget when it struck a tree next to our camper, when we use to go north. We jumped right out of our chair and smelled an electrical smell. TV, telephone and toaster was ruined. With my deductible insurance policy, they sent me a check for a whopping $49.00.


----------



## Kaila (Jul 14, 2020)

I am glad to see the updates that various people have written on this interesting  thread.  
I don't know why i wasn't getting the notifications, but that happens sometimes.

In addition, every one of you must have added your comments, immediately after the most recent time I had checked this thread, myself, despite having seen no alerts for it. 

That also happens sometimes, and I don't know why.  
It might be related to recent nearly daily occurrences of electrical storms, here in my vicinity.
Though I hadn't noticed that , during this season of years past.


********
What i was going to post here today, 
is that _since_ this OP topic thread was posted,
I have actually enjoyed even more than I previously did, each time, I do listen for the pause between the light flash, and the thunder sound.

What an amazing real-life science demonstration, proving one of those facts that we learned and memorized by rote, and were confused by, and puzzled over, when much younger:

Light truly does travel faster than sound!

The teachers did not make that up! 
Perhaps *some* of the other things they told us, were true as well.  Makes us wonder, no?


----------



## AnnieA (Jul 14, 2020)

Lightning terrifies me.  I have a phobia about driving in strong storms ever since one night when I had to drive through one at night on an isolated country road.  There were direct cloud to ground strikes all around.  A tree was struck as I drove by it ...sounded like an explosion, and when I returned on the same road the next afternoon the tree was still smouldering.


----------



## asp3 (Jul 14, 2020)

We rarely get lightning out here in the San Francisco bay area and when we do it's a treat.  My family moved to the Dallas, TX area in the early 70's and lived there from Thanksgiving through June before returning to California.  The only thing I enjoyed about the Dallas area were the thunderstorms which were spectacular at times.

My worst lightning experience happened when I was climbing in Yosemite.  We were climbing the east side of Cathedral Peak on a beautiful sunny day with just a few clouds in the sky.  In California weather usually comes in from the west so we had no idea that storms were building in the central valley and coming in to Yosemite.  We started hearing a little distant thunder but nothing close enough to be worrisome.  However things changed quickly and as my partner was climbing the last pitch of the climb we became aware that the rocks around us were starting to buzz.  When he got to the top things were really buzzing but he had to secure the rope to rappel to the point were we could hike down.  He just belayed me and I swung around the peak to the other side without climbing to the top.  As he was up there he said that there were sparks between some of his carabiners.  He quickly rappelled down and we hiked down as quickly as possible with the rocks buzzing around us for about 15 to 20 minutes.  We left my rope and gear at the top so the party behind us could use it to get down quickly.  They passed us on the hike down and returned my rope and gear to me.

I've been on one other climb at Yosemite in the valley where we bailed when a storm moved in unexpectedly.  That one however wasn't nearly as harrowing as my other experience.


----------



## RadishRose (Jul 14, 2020)

Yikes, buzzing rocks!

Scary but fascinating story, Asp... glad you escaped!


----------



## Em in Ohio (Jul 19, 2020)

asp3 said:


> We rarely get lightning out here in the San Francisco bay area and when we do it's a treat.  My family moved to the Dallas, TX area in the early 70's and lived there from Thanksgiving through June before returning to California.  The only thing I enjoyed about the Dallas area were the thunderstorms which were spectacular at times.
> 
> My worst lightning experience happened when I was climbing in Yosemite.  We were climbing the east side of Cathedral Peak on a beautiful sunny day with just a few clouds in the sky.  In California weather usually comes in from the west so we had no idea that storms were building in the central valley and coming in to Yosemite.  We started hearing a little distant thunder but nothing close enough to be worrisome.  However things changed quickly and as my partner was climbing the last pitch of the climb we became aware that the rocks around us were starting to buzz.  When he got to the top things were really buzzing but he had to secure the rope to rappel to the point were we could hike down.  He just belayed me and I swung around the peak to the other side without climbing to the top.  As he was up there he said that there were sparks between some of his carabiners.  He quickly rappelled down and we hiked down as quickly as possible with the rocks buzzing around us for about 15 to 20 minutes.  We left my rope and gear at the top so the party behind us could use it to get down quickly.  They passed us on the hike down and returned my rope and gear to me.
> 
> I've been on one other climb at Yosemite in the valley where we bailed when a storm moved in unexpectedly.  That one however wasn't nearly as harrowing as my other experience.


Wow - sparking carabiners!  Does that mean that the rocks you were clinging to were charged?  I wonder if attached ropes would possible catch fire?  Yikes!


----------



## Ruthanne (Jul 21, 2020)

Knowing that it is rare stops me from being afraid it will hit me.


----------



## WheatenLover (Jul 21, 2020)

My only unusual experience with lightning happened a few nights after my mother died. My sister had gone back home to another state, and she'd been saying that she hadn't heard from or dreamed of Mom yet. We were very close to our mother, so she was really hoping Mom would be in touch somehow.

I was staying in my mom's house. There was thunder and lightning outside that night, while I was getting into bed. Suddenly a yellow ball of lightning came through the window right next to me. It kind of hovered (paused) in the air and then went across the room and disappeared.

Since I was in my mother's bedroom and she had just died, I thought maybe I was imagining things, or maybe it was her paying a visit (odd, I know), or maybe it was from the lightning. I stayed awake for awhile to make sure no fire had started from it, roamed around the dark house to check if I smelled something burning or saw fire. All was fine and the ball of lightning was gone.

The next day I got up and thought maybe I had dreamed it (or was going crazy). I looked up ball of lightning, and sure enough, ball lightning exists. I read a few stories about it harming electrical items, and decided that since the ball had gone toward the wall shared with the kitchen, to check it out. Sure enough, all electricity on that wall was out. All I had to do was the flip the circuit breaker and it came back on. 

It is the strangest thing I've ever seen. It was perfectly round, and I still don't know how it didn't catch the sheer curtains on fire when it came through the window. Maybe it was going too fast.


----------



## Em in Ohio (Jul 22, 2020)

WheatenLover said:


> My only unusual experience with lightning happened a few nights after my mother died. My sister had gone back home to another state, and she'd been saying that she hadn't heard from or dreamed of Mom yet. We were very close to our mother, so she was really hoping Mom would be in touch somehow.
> 
> I was staying in my mom's house. There was thunder and lightning outside that night, while I was getting into bed. Suddenly a yellow ball of lightning came through the window right next to me. It kind of hovered (paused) in the air and then went across the room and disappeared.
> 
> ...


Since you and your mother were very close (and I envy you), I doubt that she would send a ball of lightning as a greeting!  Great story, though! Thanks for sharing! By the way, I'd enjoy seeing ball lightning - from a distance!


----------



## WheatenLover (Jul 22, 2020)

Em in Ohio said:


> Since you and your mother were very close (and I envy you), I doubt that she would send a ball of lightning as a greeting!  Great story, though! Thanks for sharing! By the way, I'd enjoy seeing ball lightning - from a distance!



I didn't know ball lightning existed ... until it did. Being at a distance, if given the choice, would be good. Imagine if you were standing in its way and it went right through you, like it went through the wall at my mom's house! I guess I do have some good luck, since that didn't happen to me!


----------



## Keesha (Jul 27, 2020)

We just had a storm and the glow after a thunderstorm is amazing. Colours appear brighter than ever. I took a few photos of my petunias on the back deck. For a while they looked almost fluorescent.

The most amazing lightening storm I’ve ever since was back when my husband and I first starting going out together. We went to visit my parents before they started going to Florida and we slept in their camp trailer in their backyard.

That night I witnessed the most incredible natural light show ever imagined. At first the thunder started, then big strikes of lightening, then the lightening started attaching to each other and then there were balls of lightening travelling everywhere. They’d travel up and down trees and across roads.

It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life. We stayed up until it was over which lasted about an hour. The funny thing is that my husband scared of lightening and used to freak when I’d go swimming in it. I live swimming when it’s lightening, especially in the ocean or big lake. You can see lightening easily across the horizon since there’s nothing in the way.

What a light show. The lightening looks something like this was lightening balls like this but many of them. In fact, they were everywhere. I can’t even find anything online that looked anything like what we saw.


The scariest thunderstorm I’ve seen was when we were kids we went camping at this one camp grounds so my dad and brothers could go to the car races. My mom and I stayed in our trailer. There was a tornado and the lightening was crazy. The wind was so strong it was tossing huge trees like they were toothpicks. Peoples campers were flipped over and almost every outhouse was turned and exposed. Ewwww.

My parents trailer wasn’t too badly damaged. I think my mom was glad that I was with her cause I handle natural disasters quite well. I think I helped keep her calm until it was all over. She seemed really scared and worried.

When my father and brothers came back the next day they couldn’t believe the damage. We had no way of contacting them. Anyway it was talked about for quite a while afterwards.

When I was little I watched my dad get struck by lightening when he went to close my window. I laughed but probably shouldn’t have. Lol.

You can see the start of a rainbow 
Note: My personal photos won’t upload right now. I’ll try later or tomorrow.


----------



## Pappy (Jul 28, 2020)

Good timing on this thread. We had a doozie of a lightning storm last evening. Lasted about 20 minutes and then another came through. They come off the ocean and pack a mean punch. Torrential rains too.


----------

