Lightning strikes!

You're driving down the road, minding your own business and then this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4WL0s09Z9c

I was camping a few years back and got first hand experience with lightning. It was not raining but was cloudy, I heard one rumble in the distance and started preparing my campsite for rain when lightning struck a nearby pine tree (10ft away) and jumped to my awning that I was standing near (just outside the arm). I never saw the flash but heard the explosion and was knocked off my feet several feet away. After wiggling around in the dirt for a few seconds and mumbling "I'm hit" with my feet feeling like they were on fire several campers came to my aid and EMT's responded. After checking me out and pronouncing me alive I refused transport. I did have a very uneasy feeling for several hours afterward. The TT took some damage (close to $2k). Several other persons felt the charge in their legs and some other campers nearby had minor damage. It was an event I will not forget and I will never take lightning lightly again.

The people that are hit and killed by lightning each year were either the highpoint on the ground, bicycling or riding a horse or motorcycle, or standing by a tree or light post or under a metal roof. Inside a camper is a relatively safe place to be and you definitely want the jacks off the ground as far as possible. Use the rubber tires for insulation. Lightning will often travel horizontally until it finds that protruding object or person that takes it to ground.

Check the government statistics. It makes for interesting reading. The fishermen that were hit had left the water and were standing by the lake when they were hit. They thought they were at risk on the water but safe standing under a tree - they were dead wrong.

A fun topic.. thanks all for your input! OP

buta4 wrote:
As a segway ...

Isn't that a motorized cart?

As a segway ...

NO ONE has ever survived a direct from the main lightening bolt. Those who have survived were hit, or nearly hit, by a streamer from the main bolt or shocked by the heated expanding air around the bolt.

Anyone hit directly by the main bolt would be burned to a crisp from the temperature of up to 54,000 degrees F., five times hotter than the sun.

If you hear the thunderous bang, you're OKAY. Just swallow your heart back down to where it belongs and have a beer.

This guy needs to go to church more.

or by a lotto ticket! :B

I love the black smoke after he gets hit. Just like in a cartoon! :B

I usually wrap my head with aluminum foil , prevents lightning strikes AND prevents the aliens from sucking my brains !
Lightning is supposed to go to the best ground but does each individuate piece of lightning know that ?

I usually wrap my head with aluminum foil , prevents lightning strikes AND prevents the aliens from sucking my brains !
Lightning is supposed to go to the best ground but does each individuate piece of lightning know that ?