Storm chaser struck by lightning

[Todd Rector]

MODERATORS: I admit I have no idea where to put this. Please move it to anywhere you deem appropriate.

Storm chaser struck by lightning.

http://www.kcci.com/news/man-survives-lightning-strike-sunday/27829048

 

[Rob H]

Danny posts here on ST. I think he's been around since 2011.

 

[Skip Talbot]

Glad that Danny is recovering and in good hands. I hope he is starting to feel better by now. That article is the first update I've heard since the news broke on Facebook, and wow was that the actual bolt pictured there? You can see some HP supercell structure in the background including the RFD core, updraft base, updraft tower, and inflow band. Danny last posted on his Facebook wall that they had a mothership at 6:29. The storm went tornado warned shortly afterwards and the bolt probably occurred not long after that post as well.

Lightning is an extremely dangerous and ever present hazard for storm chasers. I know several members on this forum have been struck, but does anyone have any stats on that? I'm sure we're all much more likely to be hit than the general public. This particular event had some really prolific lightning, including positively charged lightning striking well ahead of the updraft base from the anvil region. These are the much stronger, longer lasting bolts that are much more dangerous than the more common negatively charged lightning, especially since they often strike further out from the storm where people are more likely to be standing outside.

We had some really rich moisture in the low levels with dews in the low 70s and very high precipitable water values greater than 2. It seems like you get a lot more CG activity on days like this, probably due to the water content and makeup in the updraft. I started the chase looking for tornadoes, but it almost became a lightning chase by the end, the bolts were so numerous. Lightning really, really spooks me, and August 31 was a day where the ground was like hot lava to me. If I had to get out and do anythign I was quickly tip toeing around the van and then diving back inside. I heard the powerlines crackling a couple times too.

A few bolts near Bennett, Nebraska:

A positive strike I got on video:

You can see the characteristic smooth channel and beaded breakup.

 

[Todd Rector]

I will keep an eye out for updates on Mr. Murphy, and post them if I see them.

I am pretty sure most of us here fear lightning more than tornadoes. Scary stuff indeed.

 

[John Olexa]

Get well soon Danny! I must say 90% of my chasing is photographing lightning. I've really never had a serious close call and I shoot with a 28-80 mm lens.
I guess this would have to be the closest. That pole was not very far away.

 

[Skip Talbot]

Video of the strike was just posted...

Watch video >

 

[rdale]

Is that video real? With all that lightning ongoing someone was standing outside of a car?

 

[Todd Rector]

I have no reason to doubt the video is authentic, and the fact that it sent someone to the hospital confirms to me a close strike did occur. It's too bad the camera was out of focus for the strike, otherwise it would have been fantastic footage/documentation. I am re-thinking my lightning photo strategy for next season and will probably buy a window mount so I can shoot from inside my car.

 

[Skip Talbot]

It's too bad the camera was out of focus for the strike, otherwise it would have been fantastic footage/documentation.

There's some debate on whether the lightning caused that focusing glitch. I know it's not uncommon for close strikes to interfere with cameras, but that looks a lot like autofocus hunting to me. The shot is never quite in focus, and then a car drives past and the camera seems to find the focus briefly before hunting and going way out of focus. Perhaps the lightning was interfering with the autofocus mechanism though? I'm guessing it probably wouldn't be an issue with a manually focused camera/lens.

 

[Phil Bates]

My guess is that the camera autofocus was getting confused between the windshield and the distant objects. This can happen if rain hits the windshield exactly in front of the lens where it is getting its focusing cues. Just a thought.

Phil

 

[Rob H]

From personal experience, a leader hitting a car isn't nearly as bad as what happened to Danny so it's a good idea to ride out those lightning crazy storms inside the car. Just do NOT turn off your car. Car ran fine, but certain non-critical electrical systems went out. We made the mistake of trying to fix them by turning the car off (not knowing we had been hit by lightning), and had to wait 3 hours for a tow in the middle of nowhere.

edit: probably worth noting that while we knew there were some close strikes, we couldn't think of any that were particularly close, like in Danny's video. Sure enough there was a scorch mark on top of the car, though. I'm not sure how far those leaders can be removed from the "main" bolt.

 

[MClarkson]

that looks a lot like autofocus hunting to me.

Agreed. The film goes out of focus seconds before the lightning hit, which is a long time in the world of electricity.

Still, its not a bad video, you can see the glowing remnants of what is probably floating dust immediately after the strike, and also what looks like a bit of steam blasted upwards from the surface contact point, which matches well with other videos and with the one time I was close to a lightning hit.

 

[Jeff Duda]

I don't see any way that video could have any false elements. It looks as raw as any other close lightning strike video I have ever seen. I also doubt that the lightning strike had anything to do with the autofocus, for similar reasons as have been stated by the few posters before me. I was initially surprised to hear that the videographer was hit because the bolt appears to strike a good 50 feet down the road. I thought maybe some ground current got him, but given how the main channel completely overwhelms/oversaturates/blows out the image, there's no way to confirm or deny a secondary branch unless someone else was nearby and saw it. Still scary to see. Lightning is indeed very dangerous and can hurt you even if the main bolt doesn't strike you.

 

[Rob H]

Guys, I don't think rdale was actually questioning the authenticity of the video.

As for the auto-focusing, it's plausible that the lightning caused that. A video camera will most likely use contrast detection which scans the entire frame for the focal length with the highest center-weighted average contrast region. It will hunt and peck a little as bright/dark objects move around, but this is a sudden shift to one extreme and then it seems to stay there. Electronics hit by lightning can do some strange things, much stranger than losing focus. People that have been struck by lightning have said that they could feel the charge for a few seconds before being hit, which could coincide with what we see in the video.

The full video could probably answer that question, but I've got better things to obsess over

 

[Warren Faidley]

I've been wondering if the "out of focus" was done as a post-production effect to prevent copying, and the actual footage is sharp?

W.