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New Photo
Posted by Fred Berry on 5/4/2005, 3:21 pm It has been awhile since I've visited the board. I loved the new photo with the close lightning strike. I'm not into meters as measurement, but that arc appears to be about 25-30 feet from the camera and looks to be hitting a low tree or high bush just behind the shed. It is amazing to see the leaders all around him! One on the palm tree right in front of him, another on the tree just to his right. Those are REAL close!! I think this to be one of the scariest photos of lightning for a long time. I have no faith in these so-called 'lightning-strike survivors' groups...it cannot happen. Sure these people may have been hit with a stray leader, or a small arm off the main arc. But a direct lightning strike will immediately kill a person, no questions asked. In most cases, a direct strike on a person will do physical damage too, in some cases, blowing the person apart. Amperage is just too high to not destroy a body, even a wet body where the current can flow on the outside. I know the feeling of an 'off-arc' strike. In 2000 I was working partime for FedEx. I was making an afternoon delivery in the 7-corners area of Falls Church, VA. It was a hot summer afternoon, and a small, very highly charged thunderstorm was passing right overhead. There was constant 'stacato' CG (cloud-to-ground) lightning right around where I was sitting in traffic on an overhead ramp. (Stacato lightning is the type where the bolt appears as a quick single flash, almost too fast for the eye to see; these are common on smaller summer storms) Lightning hit the light-pole right next to my stepvan, doors and windows open due to the heat. Obviously a side-arc hit both the van and me, I think through my head, as most of my hair was singed off. My left shoe was blown of my foot. Stepvan was toast: ignition destroyed, FedEx computer "DADS" unit was cooked as was the little 'tracker' computer on my belt. Felt like someone kicked me all-over in an instant. I am used to electric shocks, and unlike most people who go into dramatics and want to be on TV, I enjoyed the experience! Other than my hair I was fine, no new physic powers or Elvis visits, I was feeling great, other than my hair. Police & FedEx manager wanted me to go to the hospital, but I was ready to return to duty, which I did, in another van. I'm sure you've heard leaders on a close (100-300 yard) strike...at the same time you see the flash, you often will hear a small 'pop!' then the crack! of the lightning. Closer flashes, you can't hear the pop; the main crack is heard at the same time of the flash. Those little pops are leaders that are closer to you than the actual main arc.
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Re: New Photo
Posted by Bert Hickman on 5/6/2005, 10:28 pm, in reply to "New Photo" I agree! I've been about 100 feet away from strikes to trees on several instances. In one case I got a shock from the umbrella I was holding just from the sudden change in the E-field as the bolt hit. On two occasions I could "hear" a click from the intense electromagnetic field simultaneous to the flash and shortly before actually hearing the crash of thunder. In Colorado on vacation, lightning hit a nearby tree, showering me with fragments of tree bark. But all of those were regular negative lightning bolts. The closest positive bolt I ever saw was about a block away - and it burned down the house that it hit. : I certainly don't think anyone could survive being hit by a positive lightning bolt. And it is hard to imagine surviving a negative bolt, but some folks apparently have... but they've also tended to have significant/long lasting internal damage. A few years back, a local lady got a direct hit as she ran from her car towards a grocery store. Lightning hit her umbrella, and where it exited from her feet, it blew holes in the asphalt! And she did survive, but she did have significant internal organ damage and was in the hospital for quite some time. Wow! Sounds like you were really one lucky fellow! I've had quite a few good electrical shocks in my life, but I also must say that I never enjoyed any of them. But, it had to be a rather euphoric feeling knowing that you had just cheated death.. :^) : I'm sure you've heard leaders on a close (100-300 yard) strike...at the Hmm... now I've always thought that that was EM radiation being picked up by your inner ear... but the leader explanation also does makes some sense. Thanks and best wishes, Bert
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