The Closest You Personally Have Been to Lightning

[mike scantlin]

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.

 

[D. Hayes]

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.

 

[Mikel Shively]

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.

 

[Scott McPartland]

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

 

[Patrick McCarthy]

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)

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

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.

 

[David Drummond]

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!

 

[Susan Strom]

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.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

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

 

[Dan Nichols]

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.

 

[Bobbi Andrzejek]

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!

 

[John Mason]

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

 

[BrandonWhittington]

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....

 

[Michael Thompson]

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.

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

 

[Martin North]

The video is an absolute cracker!

Loved the 'puff' of smoke.