The Closest You Personally Have Been to Lightning

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....
 
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.

bolt3.JPG


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


 
Back in May of 06 me and a few buddies were chasing on a moderate risk day down around McAllister, saw some good storms, never produced anything. came all the way back home, and decided to go to the highschool (Bixby) and do some Rollerblading on their handrails. well there was a new cell that had gone up, we were out of gas money, so we skated instead of chasing the SUP. we were in perfect viewing position anyways, we didnt need to go anywhere. i watch the storm come in for about 20 minutes, my buddy kept skating. got a few golfballs, buddy kept skating. went home as a cluster was about to come through, probably on the cold front, i dont remember. anyways, we're watching a movie, and lightning hit the house. we saw it bounce around in a closed light-fixture. and all of our fingers and toes hurt. like arthritis pain. it was pretty nuts. chasing Sups all day, come home and skate almost under a Sup, then we go inside, and almost get hit. it was nuts. good times.
 
The closest I can vividly recall was back in 96. I was stationed at Altus AFB Oklahoma working the C-141. There was a storm rolling in low and fast from the west and it looked like "The Nothing" from the movie Never Ending Story. I swear the clouds where rolling about 20 foot over the T-tails of the aircraft. During high winds the C-141 has to be chained to the ground since it's big wings make it easy to lift and move. That involves 10K chains through the wing tiedowns and 40k chains through the gear. We all were out there putting on chains when lightning struck the flightline. I don't know where it hit exactly but some how the electricity traveled through to the ground tiedown point and knocked a coworker off his feet. The guy spent a day in the hospital and a week off work recovering. I was just a few yards away on another aircraft when this happened.
 
Mine was about 15-20 yards back in '06...Was sitting near a intersection around Bloomfield, IA and a bolt struck a utility pole. It was loud enough to make my ears ring for a while and bright enough to blind me for a little bit.
 
For me that would have been back on June 26th, 1988 here in Queens, NY. Actually...it was right out in front of my house, lol. I was all of about 16 years old at the time and was filming a line of storms moving into my area around 7:30am. Out to the west you can see two very vivid bolts hit on either side of the frame, but the one that you didn't see was the one that almost got me. It hit the TV antenna on my house about 30 feet from me and gave me the scare of a lifetime! It also fried our TV and VCR....back then I think we still had a top loader, so it was a good excuse to get one of the nice updated models of the day :)

Scott
 
For me it was June or July, 1991, in southern Manitoba. My chase buddy and I were caught in the precip core and were slowly driving down a relatively deserted highway with frequent CGs striking only hundreds of yards from us. Suddenly one struck the front of my 1977 Ford Granada. I was just about to comment to my cohort whether he was feeling a 'tingling' sensation on his arms and legs like I was...when FLASH. I only remember it as a blinding flash. My chase partner was freaking out (just like in Jon Person's video!). He later said he saw broad bright blue bolt strike the front of the car and arc back over the windshield. For me, I was blinded *completely* for about 10 seconds. I spent those seconds slowly breaking and trying to settle him down so he could tell me if the car was still pointed in the right direction. The sad part is we had turned off the video recorder (remember those old big VHS ones?) about a minute before.

My only other notable was one striking a power pole transformer beside the highway about 100' in front of me, and with me then driving through the PCB laden shower of sparks that blew across the highway.

Pat
(I hate lightning)
 
Not as close as some people, but this one was last year. If I had to guess I would say less than 50 yards out. It sure scared the living crap out of me.

6_22_07_03.JPG
 
I remember once I was chasing with Bill Braskey. Best darn chaser on 9 planets! Goes about 6'5" and 275.

Anyway, we were looking down the throat of this mean HP when out of nowhere lightning stuck Braskey right on the left eyebrow, went down his back, jumped the crack and out his right little toe. He just looked at me and lit a cigar on his still burning back hair then walked over and boosted off the chase vehicle with his bare hands after shooting lightning out of his fingers electrocuting and roasting a cow on the spot for dinner. Best darn steak I ever had in my life! Here's to Bill Braskey!
 
Just a few feet away as I recall, with one wall between us. That was 1994. I still have the branch from the tree that was scorched. It is part of a necklace with lightning bolt on it. The ferocity of that storm is what led me to chasing.
 
Wow those are some shocking experiences you guys and gals have had! No pun intended. I have never felt lightning personally (guess that's a good thing) but I have seen strikes hit right across the street on two separate occasions a few years back. The loudest crack of thunder I ever heard and both scared the (insert cuss word here if you want) out of me. The one I recall most was when I was on my porch watching the storm, when out of the blue, a large bolt struck in the backyard of the house on corner on our street, only 3 houses up from us. I actually saw smoke afterwards, and I remember the lightning had a broken appearance to it, which I later found out is called bead lightning. It was very loud and yes I did cuss. Too bad the video cam wasn't rolling!

After viewing those videos, I've come to the conclusion that it is normal to cuss after a close call :)
 
My Closest Encounters

Thats much closer then I ever wanted to be![/QUOTE]

For me there ain't no such thing as "too close"....so long as I'm not seriously hurt. It's my music!!

Aside from those many would-be close encounters I missed, there was two I'm pretty sure of. One that occurred at my parents' country home in Woodbury, CT, on the early evening in July, 1968. A follow-up storm ("train" if you may) occurred after the very windy but not-too-loud initial storm signalling the front. As I was on the porch, there was a huge flash nearly simultaneous to an incredible snap-BANG. A brief, mild ear pain. I might've seen a close bolt, but am not sure as things happened so fast.

Another occurred just nearly four years ago. I was on my way to one of my favorite intercept destinations, just 20-25 mi. due north, as the radar was spotting a cell aiming that way from the SW. I landed at the Enfield mall in good time for the dark skies, initial rains, and all. As you know, there are tall street lamps at every mall. I was hearing the nervous giggles of a few teenage girls, obviously trying to get out of the rain, when CRASH!!!!!! A bolt filled my vision and the noise filled my eardrums, but no pain. Sparks came down from the nearby lamp post, just around maybe 60 feet away, it smoked quite a while, and its light flickered on and off indefinitely. Were I home I'dve missed all.

By the way, does anyone know what causes the occasional "tick" sometimes heard milliseconds before very loud thunder? Those I've heard are simultaneous to the bolt, but usually precede the thunderclap. Ladies: click your nails while closest to your ears, and you'll get a very good imitation of that sound.
 
I've had two really close encounters. The first occurred in Georgia in 1969. There was a thunderstorm moving in and I'd stayed too long outside. I was running for home down the street when lightning hit the power pole next to me. I saw five blue "fingers" of light snake out towards me and all of my hair (which was quite long) stood straight up. The blue fingers flared and disappeared. I don't remember any sound with it, but I was quite scared.

The second one was in Nebraksa in 1996. I was out herding sheep on my horse when I saw a storm just barreling toward me. I started moving sheep (about 1000 head) toward the canyons. I got most of them down into safety when the leading edge of the storm hit. The wind knocked my horse sideways and lightning hit a pine tree about five feet away and skipped across the ground. My horse went beserk. I didn't feel anything except tingling in my feet and hands. When I got back to the house, I saw that the hair aorund her hooves was burnt. Poor thing. She hated storms after that! LOL!
 
Perhaps not the closest I've been, but certainly the scariest situation:

August 1980 and a group of us had reached the summit of the Fluchkogel in the Otztal Alps of S Austria. An electrical storm was obviously approaching. I'd read all the mountain safety books that tell you to avoid knife-edge ridges (of which there were a number in the vicinity) - anyway it seemed a good thing to descend to the glacier below and set off down it towards the nearest hut. Lightning was running up & down the ridges in true textbook fashion but we felt relatively safe where we were.

The next thing a MONSTER C-G hit the glacier ice some 100m away. It left an after-image on my retina for some seconds afterwards.

We ran. Now I know, that's not good advice on a glacier 3000 m up with a foot of soft snow on it, but we ran, roped together. The sferics were just going haywire. The experienced Austrian guide we were with was terrified. I don't think I have ever felt so vulnerable.

We eventually got down to the moraines close to the nose of the glacier and were astounded to meet a party of Swiss walkers heading on up, carrying umbrellas with steel points on the tops.

We ran a bit harder!

Arrival at the hut, just as the storm was drifting away, and never, never, before or since, has cold beer tasted so good!

Cheers - John
 
One of the 1st chases i ever went on was back in 2002, Not sure the exact date.....But I will never forget that moment...

There was me and a buddy of mine and we went just south of Booker to watch an amazing electrical storm. I was standing by my vehical and my buddy was behind me by a few feet.

For some reason, I looked up and in slow motion, I saw this PINK dot moving and all of a sudden Lightning hit, not real sure where, but it was close enought that it knocked me up against my car and busted an eardrum. My buddy was knocked off of his feet and at first, i thought he had been hit........Too close and I have not even messed with lightning since....
 
Every chase year I get several bolts within 100-200 yds and closer to me, mostly while safe in the car.

The closest experience was a tree struck just 10 yards from me. I was standing outside taking lightning pics at the time. I did not feel any shock, yet there was no doubt as the tree caught in fire.

The full story of this close escape is here

http://ozthunder.com/chase/chase45.htm

The picture below was the photo frame open at the time of the strike which was to my right and off screen.

040104d.jpg



It is really rare to have the video camera pointing in the right direction, but last weekend (12th January 2008) I did. Now this strike is not particularly close, there where other closer strikes when I was core punching 5 mins later in the car.

Video is here

Still from video

120108_1.jpg
 


Chris Wilburn and I were staying in a hotel in Clinton, Ok when, according to others that were staying in the hotel that nigh and could see our room and the roof above it, claim that the bolt hit almost directly above our room. My camera was sitting just outside the doorway which was left open. The hotel was two stories tall. I've also had some cg hit with in about 200-300 yards of me while driving and with the camera off during a chase.
 
back in 98 or 99 we had a gust front come in with severe thunderstorms, me and a buddy of mine that lived with me went outside to see the storm and let me remind you that storm looked like storms from the midwest, when we walked out in the front yard to watch it big rain drops started to fall and all of sudden a huge CG came out of the sky and it looked like it hit the house so we ran inside and my buddy looked out in the backyard and saw my dad laying in the middle of the yard, so i ran outside and the winds were like 70 mph (found out later it was a microburst) and picked my father up off the ground and brought him inside, and later found out that he was in the back yard talking to his girlfriend on the phone and the bolt of lightning came down and struck him which made him fly in the middle of the yard. later that night i was talking with him and he didnt know who i was or my friend so i called the west barnstable fire department and had him rushed to the hospital. when i got there to see him he had 2 burn marks on him, the lightning had entered through his parts in between his legs and went through his foot. that scared me alot.
 
I wanted to send you a PM Forrest, but I can't because I'm still a jr. member. So sorry if this is against the rules, but may I ask, how did your story with your dad end, does he suffer from memory loss or went everything back to normal again?

Greetings,

Koos
 
he came out of the memory a day after, the only thing that he suffers from to this day is that somthing doesnt work anymore. which he told me that he doesnt care about that anymore cause hes not gonna have more kids.
 
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