• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Lightning Strike?????

Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Messages
10
A fellow spotter Dan Gadberry came across this stop sign the other night shortly after a storm rolled though. Wondered if Lightning caused this?

Thanks for any input.

Jeff
 

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It could be, certainly seems possible. It could be the cg hit the pole then arced to the sign.

I could see it being caused by power line from that pole coming loose and hitting the sign. However the pole looks fine and I don't see any rust as if it happened more than 48 hours earlier.
 
Jeff,

There is maybe a five percent possibility the burn in the sign was lightning caused, but it is doubtful since the sign is directly under the power line. After a lifetime working for an electrical utility, my moneys says lightning struck the conductor above the sign burning the conductor in two and the 'live' end of the conductor fell across the grounded sign. The resulting arc burned the sign during the time the breaker/recloser/sectionalizer/fuse was operating to clear the fault which can be as short as instantaneous to ten seconds or more depending on location in the system and available fault current to operate the device.

If you happen to get back to that location, look up at the wire and see if a repair sleeve is there indicating that is where the line crew made repairs. It is an interesting photo and thanks for sharing it.
 
neighbors indicate lines did not come down that day. No one actually saw lightning hit the sign but did see a close flash followed by instantaneous thunder.
 
Lightning does not always hit the highest object. Many times I have filmed lighting hitting TV towers and it rarely hits the top. Many times it will hit about half way down.
Lightning could easily go around the power lines above and hit the sign.
If this is a direct lightning hit, it could be a good safety warning that standing below power lines in not a safe place from lightning strikes.
 
I would have to say it looks to me to be Lightning:

1.The sign is made of Aluminum ( or atleast most are ) so there would not be rust.
2. You can see a burn going down the sign where the pole is .
3.To me the burn on the top looks to be electrical due to the high heat needed to melt that thick of Aluminum in a downward motion .

Just my thought's.
 
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