The Closest You Personally Have Been to Lightning

[Shane Adams]

That I know of, it was about 20 feet. I was a kid and was sitting at the kitchen table, while my mother stood at the sink washing dishes. The window in front of her was raised, and a bolt hit right outside the screen, couldn't have been more than 3-4 feet from her. She screamed, pulled her hands out of the water, and jumped back. I just happend to be looking that direction and saw it all. The bolt was about 2 inches thick from my point of view, and only lasted a split second. Of course the "crash" that came with it scared the crap out of us both.

In 1995 I worked for a tree trimming company who's trucks had large booms on top, and I'm fairly certain our truck was hit one time as we were driving. There was a bright flash that filled the cab for an instant, followed by a loud "crack" sound. But I couldn't say for sure where the bolt actually hit because neither of us saw it.

As far as chasing, I have no clue how close I've really been to lightning. There have been numerous times when I've seen flashes and heard instant crashes but never saw the bolt. And on June 12, 2004 I was standing outside the vehicle with my vidcam in hand, plugged into the vehicle's lighter adapter, and felt a small shock through my vidcam as a bright flash happened. I think it was behind us across the road, but I couldn't be sure. All I know is David Drummond was standing six feet from me so I should've known someone was gonna get struck LOL.

 

[Nigel Bolton]

Closest I got was on 13th Feb 1996.

Am a pro forecaster in the UK, and was against all odds predictiing the possibility of thundery showers close to the south coast of England during my day shift on the 12th. I then lived in a satellite town outside Southampton UK.

My collegue that day predicted a cold front to pass across Southampton at around 5:30GMT, needless to say he got some stick for trying to be over accurate. I was then trying to get across that following on convection could be weakly thundery.

Front went through at 5:23, according squall and wind shift. Just needed the thundery showers now I hoped.

At around 8:45, heard thunder in the distance. There were three or four more rumbles thereafter, each getting closer. Finally a huge flash, bright enough to have the shape of the curtained window impinge on my retina. There was a crack, not loud, just sounded like someone breaking a small log over their knee.

On investigation, found my house had been struck. Fortunately, it was a weak, low based winter type storm, so the lightning was not powerful. However, it had made a hole in my roof.

Needless to say, my collegues gave me some serious stick after that, and the story appeared as a paragraph or two in three national newspapers.

Just goes to show, you have to be careful what you wish for.
N.

 

[Martin North]

Had some pretty close calls. One time lightning hit the main mast of a yacht which was moored to the wooden jetty I was on. Maybe 30 ft I suppose.

Only this year I had about 3 close ones in the space of 2 minutes. I was taking shots on some high ground one day and the tower near me was hit three times. Howard Kirkby will confirm this as I was on the phone to him at the time to see what radar was saying.

 

[Brian Stertz]

Mine was when hiking at Shiloh Military Park (TN) as a boy scout. There was a dark supercell base that came overhead (remember that very well) and we had been pelted by golfballs for a moment. Then the cg-s started zapping around us. Me and a friend were at the tail end of the hikers and I was second to last. All the sudden it was a zip and then a deafening bang. I lost the hearing in my right ear temporarily, and the kid behind me was blinded for about fifteen mins. The lightning bolt hit about 20 ft. behind me and about 10 ft. ahead of the kid who was the last one along the trail. Fortunately we came out unscathed burn or shock wise, and recovered from this very close encounter. I have had some close calls as a chaser but nothing that close.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Ive had several close encounters, as im sure we all have since we purposely put ourselves in harms way

Closest strike caught on camera was on easter of 2006 [April 16th I believe the date was] while chasing in East Central Illinois.

I think its impossible to have a close lightning strike without having a curse word that follows, it isnt me talking in the video [Im driving] it was my partner Matt Fischer.

**STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING**


Heres a video still from a strike outside my window as I was filming a storm this past August. I never uploaded the video. It was almost out of frame....go figure.

 

[Justin E. Reed]

Maybe 5 to 10 feet. I was sitting in the living room of the house when it hit the Sweetbay Magnolia tree beside the rock patio behind me, knocked me out of the chair! Then I went and hid in the closet, lol. I was 15 then when this happened.

Another time was about 7 feet away. I was at my aunts house in Rosepine,LA and mom was washing some dishes. She leaned over to put some away, lightning came thru the kitchen window, right where she was remind you, and struck the iron skillet on the stove. It sent the skillet flying onto the floor and sparks went everywhere. I never heard the boom, but my ears were burning after it happened. I was maybe 10 years old.

Lastly, sitting right where I am now in the weather office, it struck the palm tree outside the window about 20 feet away, somehow, the tree still lives, although it blew palm boots and dead frawnds off!

 

[Kurt Hulst]

June 26, 2005. Scott Olson and I were underneath a supercell in ND. We were driving to the interstate and we had several very close lighting strikes I want to say one was at least 30-50 feet away. This was a constant barrage. I felt like we were in a war zone dogging mortars. These are the type of bolts that sound like canons they really don't have a crackling to them they just go boom with a really deep bass to them. The ones that make your butt pucker.

Another time I was driving a few miles outside of Champaign, IL on July 4, 2005. About 30 feet in front of me I saw a telephone poll get struck on the left side of the road. That was cool. And there was a storm spotter underneath the pole and I quickly stopped and asked him if he was okay and if he saw the bolt. He said he did not see the bolt but the flash. However, he did seem startled. He also seemed upset when I asked him.

 

[Bill Schintler]

Two lightning close calls

About 12 years ago, while sitting on the back porch enjoying a storm, lightning hit the pole at the corner of the yard about 60ft from my location. The pole supported overhead power distribution as well as phone and cable TV. The power cycled and came back on within a second, with no apparent damage to electrical equipment via the power connection. The TV, however, was damaged through the cable connection. Interestingly enough, the lightning chose to hit the pole as apposed to a large tree between the pole and house that was twice as high.

Last year, lightning hit the folk’s house. My Dad was in the kitchen on the first floor of the two story home, and the arc jumped between the ceiling to the floor *inside* the room. There was damage to numerous electrical devices; ranging from the TV antenna dish electronics, microwave oven, overhead door controller in the garage, and the electronics inside of the whole-house vacuum. The screen on a TV was magnetized by the lightning currents so that discoloration of the display resulted. That problem has since then remedied it’s self over time by the degausser in the set. The only visible evidence of lightning damage is a hole about 1 inch in diameter in the aluminum ridge vent on the roof.

- bill

 

[Eric Flescher]

about 10 feet

In Atchinson , KS in the late 1980's I think, a buddy and I hopped to a tennis court nearby to hit some balls.
There were no clouds or thunder as I remember.

As I approached the net, there was a big blast of light and boom. The guy across the net said a lightning bold hit the power poll a number of feet away.

Needless to say we high tailed it out of there right away.

Too close weeewwww

 

[Andrew Khan]

South Central Illinois upon June 22, 2006; I was chasing with Kurt Hulst and as we were seemingly traversing among the leery road, in almost 70 dBZ, with such copious rainfall the visibility was terrifyingly horrid, you could not see two feet in front of you, however, there was no hail within the precipitation. Interestingly enough, we were driving just by a wooden power line, and almost four feet away from me, I saw this amazingly bright flash, illuminating all my vision, and less than a millisecond later...a boom unlike any boom I have ever heard before struck my eardrums, and shook the car. Absolutely the closest personal account I have to say.

 

[Anna Lindstrom]

Summer 1980 at a summer cabin in Finland, I was little when this happened so this is what people have told me. A big thunderstorm came rolling in from the sea, heavy winds it was raining horizontally and alot of thunder and lightning. Lightning hit the edge of the roof about 3 meters from where i was. It was a hell of a boom and it smelled burnt wood but it wasnt burning and it made a hole in the roof. And my grandmother also saw a ball lightning above the stove where she was standing.

I was also in Helsinki on August 22, 2007 when a powerful thunderstorm hit the Helsinki area. Me and my cousin were painting her new house ( on the inside ). Reports say lightning bolts struck at a rate of about 2500 times an hour. And I didnt have my camera with me guess who was happy. I dont know how close I was but lightning was everywhere, at least I was in the right place for the biggest storm in 2007 without a camera....

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

17 yards in August 2002. We felt the hot burst of air from the shockwave after it hit and spent the next 30 seconds laying on the ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbHpVVXFK0s

 

[Jason Foster]

Not sure how close it was, but in may 2004 while chasing with the Weathervine crew, I was standing in a grassy area just off a road with bobwire fence in front filming a fantastic wall cloud. When the lightning struck, never saw the flash (likely too close) but did here the loudest single crack of thunder. But most shocking was the fact that I got the largest jolt of an electrical shock to my feet. It really hurt. A lot stronger than being zapped by a house wall outlet. I actually have it on tape. No visual, but the audio is funny as hell because I just happen to be panning over to film everyone else filming the wall cloud. When the lightning struck, everyone ran and dove into the minivan obviously scared to death. I would have submitted it to Funnest Video, but the language is a little foul.

Lesson: Don't stand in wet grass in an open field with open toe shoes.

 

[JF Massicotte]

My closest call was not even related to chasing. Was at the job when rain outside caused some upset to an important valve. Had to go outside and open it manually, just as I was finished i decided to pass by a pump just to check if everything was alright, that's when it struck less than 100 yards behind me. I would say my heart stopped for a second. I know where it did hit because we had poblems related to this strike.

 

[jason kissam]

this was outside my old house. this was close enough to feel the discharge and static in the air. this was the last shot of the day due to it scared the living crap out of us.