Lightning

[Turtle]

Nothing quike like a lightning storm to humble a person. Still poorly understood in its causes and effects, it is nonetheless familiar to everyone.
To start things off, I have in the Hypography Science Gallery two montages of lightning photos taken over the course of lightning storms. Both storms occured in the Columbia River Valley in the vicinity of Vancouver Washington/Portland Oregon.

Lightning Storm 1
Lightning Storm 2

All things lightning the. Post your stories, photos, and research links here. :

[C1ay]

There should have been a "within 10 feet" option on the poll. Lightning hit the center of a pool a had just exitted. I was also within 20 feet of a utility transformer when it was hit.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by C1ay

There should have been a "within 10 feet" option on the poll. Lightning hit the center of a pool a had just exitted. I was also within 20 feet of a utility transformer when it was hit.

Feel free to add it C1ay.
It is quite syncronitic that you mention a pool as I voted within 100 feet and it was indeed a pool the lighning struck. The pool was on a hill in the midwest, and we guards took turns camping overnight to prevent theft & vandalism. As we lay under a cover attached to the club house, we watched a series of 8 separate thunderstorm cells pass us over. The lightning struck about 60 feet away, possibling hitting a light pole first, and then snaking to the pool and water on the deck. It blew out the pump motor inspite of the circuit breakers. It was awsome dudes & dudettes.

On the scientific side, member FrankM has put some interesting sites and data on atmosphereic electric effects in this thread:
Piezoelectric earth
Here is a link to a French satellite program Frank mentioned; I have yet to explore it thouroughly but even a cursory examination gets good marks.
http://smsc.cnes.fr/DEMETER/

[C1ay]

I was at a public pool when I was around 13 on a bright sunny day and all of the sudden the sky started to darken. No sooner had the life guard gotten all of us out of the pool when a huge bolt hit the pool dead center. I was standing at the edge of the pool when it hit. Within 10 minutes the sky was clear and sunny again but when we tried to go back in the pool we found it to be unbearably hot so they closed it for the rest of the day. It was certainly a lesson in energy transmission.

[infamous]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Nothing quike like a lightning storm to humble a person. Still poorly understood in its causes and effects, it is nonetheless familiar to everyone.
To start things off, I have in the Hypography Science Gallery two montages of lightning photos taken over the course of lightning storms. Both storms occured in the Columbia River Valley in the vicinity of Vancouver Washington/Portland Oregon.

Lightning Storm 1
Lightning Storm 2

All things lightning the. Post your stories, photos, and research links here. :

Awesome pics my friend Turtle, I hope your shell afforded you adequate protection? Lightning is such an exhilarating phenomenon.....Infy

[Jay-qu]

It is an incredible thing to watch! Once a few years ago lightning struck a building maybe 200m away and I was in a class doing a test, the tables shoot and it was the most incredible sound!
More recently though at my brothers football match the goal post was struck by lightning! and apparently all people standing near it had their hair standing on end!

[Turtle]

Great stories people! Keep 'em comin'.

Now to put a matter to rest that is often mistated in regard to how far away a lightning stroke is. Let's employ the scientific method, shall we?

The light from the stroke is traveling at the speed of light, while the consequent thunder travels at the speed of sound. The speed of sound in dry air at 70° F:
344.27 meters per second = 1129.52 feet per second = 771.18 miles per hour
Speed of Sound Calculator

From the flash, start counting seconds until you hear the thunder. For every 3 seconds you count, the lightning is 1 kilometer away {1000 meters in a kilometer; 1000 meters divided by 344.27 meters per second = 2.9 seconds}
For every 5 seconds you count, the lightning is just under 5 miles away {5280 feet in a mile; 5,280 feet divided by 1129.52 feet per second = 4.6 seconds}

[jamongo]

a Big....liGhTing bOlt strUck a tRee acroSs the streEt froM me.... It dId scAre me a lIttLe but tHere wEre No otHer SidE afFects...I don't tHink.

[ronthepon]

A rather lovely thing had happened just weeks ago. It was raining (monsoon season) all night, till the morning. Lightning frequent, but mostly remaining up in the sky.

I was sipping warm soup, watching the transformer in front of my apartments spark and spark. Suddenly, there was lightning and I'm pretty sure it hit the transformer. It exploded loudly, and it was like a huge fire cracker, with sparks flying in the air for about two or three seconds.

Later, when I inspected the transformer (It had fallen down and leaked all over the place), the metal had definitely almost melted at places.

What creeps me out is fact that our building is struck by lightning quite often. Almost everytime there is a storm.

[Jay-qu]

may be creepy but its showing that it is well earthed, I would be more worried if it where not.