Felt A Nearby Lightening Strike

[WonderMonkey 676]

Went to a lake in Tennessee this weekend.  While out on the boat we were floating around in the water when it started to rain, for the 3rd or 4th time.  When the rain started to come down a bit harder we floated under the front of the pontoon boat to continue ..... floating.  Cue thunder.  My brother, brother-in-law and myself head to the side of the boat to get out of the water.  The BIL was out and my brother was on the ladder.  I had hold of the side of the boat moving to the ladder.  My brother and I both suddenly felt a current go through us from the water to the boat (and probably back to the water), or maybe the other way around.  It wasn't a light buzz, nor was it enough to seize up my body, but it WAS enough to REALLY feel it and jolt the body and make me have to re-grab the boat.  My brother stayed on the ladder but probably because he was already gripping it.  We felt the jolt then heard the sound (of course), and it wasn't at an alarming volume, so it was a bit of distance away.  We got out of the water a bit quicker.

 

Water is a poor conductor, but when you load it up with lightening, or a downed power line, etc. enough gets to you to get the job done.  Well .... PURE water is an insulator, but since a lake isn't anything close to pure water, we can put it at "poor conductor".

[shadetree 5,502]

lightening can be felt a mile away bro while on water !. you are very lucky it did not kill you. bad weather comes ?, get off/out of the water !!!.

[_Wilson_™ 6,032]

I've been there before.... sigh, been hit three times, but i never was on the water, the one i recall the best was walking out to load the furness, and a rare rain / thunderstorm had moved in..... and the ground was saturated .... the bolt was about a mile away.... needless to say i was thrown 20 plus feet landed on my back, both of flip flops blown off my feet, now what it felt like to me was a giant funny bone hit, from head to toe.... the other two strikes, not so bad .... one struck my chevy one ton flat bed on the roof, i lost my hearing for a short time over that, and another was a direct hit from on an up silo..... that strike ran down the silage unloaded winch cable, if i had been using that, i would probobly not be here today.... it's amaising how much the air was heated up.... on those two strikes, i sure felt the static charge in the air afterwards.... I'm glad you and your friends are okay. 

[WonderMonkey 676]

33 minutes ago, shadetree said:

lightening can be felt a mile away bro while on water !. you are very lucky it did not kill you. bad weather comes ?, get off/out of the water !!!.

 

Well I can say I'm a little smarter now!  YOU SHOULD HAVE CHANGED YOUR LAKE TRIP TO MY LAKE AND WEEKEND.  And also let me ride your jet ski.

[WonderMonkey 676]

29 minutes ago, _Wilson_™ said:

I've been there before.... sigh, been hit three times, but i never was on the water, the one i recall the best was walking out to load the furness, and a rare rain / thunderstorm had moved in..... and the ground was saturated .... the bolt was about a mile away.... needless to say i was thrown 20 plus feet landed on my back, both of flip flops blown off my feet, now what it felt like to me was a giant funny bone hit, from head to toe.... the other two strikes, not so bad .... one struck my chevy one ton flat bed on the roof, i lost my hearing for a short time over that, and another was a direct hit from on an up silo..... that strike ran down the silage unloaded winch cable, if i had been using that, i would probobly not be here today.... it's amaising how much the air was heated up.... on those two strikes, i sure felt the static charge in the air afterwards.... I'm glad you and your friends are okay. 

 

Dang that first one was a good hit!

 

I'm glad I have some extra insulator hanging around my belly.

[Fishfiles 17,866]

Twice I got hit  at the boat launch , the worst time I had just walked out the water from cranking up the boat  , I was barefoot and  feet were wet , had blisters on the bottoms of my feet for a month 

[_Wilson_™ 6,032]

those deals you most likely will never forget! lol..... for a while .... i couldn't touch my cloths dryer without a small static shock lol!  (carpet shock) i have no clue why.... lol.... had one guy we called Dennis the mennis ..... he thought he knew everything  well a short time after that hit, i was at  my uncles country store with a few of the older farmers, and we were comparing close calls with lightening, and he got in the convo... said he had never had a close call, but as long as a person was in a cab tractor they were fine, just like in a car and wouldnt be struck, and a fellow stood and said ..... no.... that incorrect, you are, safe as long as you don't have a implement hooked and on the ground, or in the soil..... if you do, then you are not safe... which is true. 

[56Sierra 1,589]

About 30 years ago while working in a rail switching yards I took refuge from the storm in an all steel, well gounded instrument case.  These buildings were filled with cable terminations for the power switches in the field.  Each conductor had a lightning arrestor to protect the inside equipment.   While inside I got too close to the cable terminations just when lightning struck the rails about 75' away.  To me it felt like a shock you get on carpet in the low humidity of a winters day.  Burnt a tiny hole in my shirt at the shoulder. 

[LedFTed 1,059]

On 7/20/2021 at 5:40 PM, WonderMonkey said:

 

Dang that first one was a good hit!

 

I'm glad I have some extra insulator hanging around my belly.

i read if you can hear lightning, your close enough to be struck., an some bolts travel 15 miles. only to harness lightning, an store it. texas would have been warm last winter..

[_Wilson_™ 6,032]

i think you you meant if you hear thunder your close enough to be struck, where did you hear / read lightning stores up over time ? I'd like to read that, because wherever on the net it it's BS! 

[WonderMonkey 676]

1 hour ago, LedFTed said:

i read if you can hear lightning, your close enough to be struck., an some bolts travel 15 miles. only to harness lightning, an store it. texas would have been warm last winter..

 

We felt it before we heard it, which is how it goes.  This was the first thunder of the day ..... AFTER the hit.

 

I didn't think to count to see how far away it was.

[WonderMonkey 676]

29 minutes ago, _Wilson_™ said:

i think you you meant if you hear thunder your close enough to be struck, where did you hear / read lightning stores up over time ? I'd like to read that, because wherever on the net it it's BS! 

 

Maybe they meant that a charge has to build up until the insulating layer of the air cannot handle it anymore, and then there is a rapid discharge and ta-da, lightening.  I'm guessing he means something like that.

[_Wilson_™ 6,032]

thank you, WM, in short that is correct! 

[_Wilson_™ 6,032]

 if your close enough to hear the bolt....... you better be in a vihicile, or low as you can get or you,  can most likely kiss your a-- good bye..... 

 

which bring me to another friend i was thinking about.... Herald Whitley (older gentlemen farmer) who raised tobbacco with us and a few other farmers.... for a few years, and, all together we had over 100 achers .... now that's alot of tobacco!!! for these parts... anyways... i had always heard, herald was funny about certain things, so i used to kid him about those when i would go see him, on Sundays (take him a sundrop, and a snickers candy bar, his wife would bring me a chipped iced up pepsi cola and we would sit on his front porch.... and chew the fat.... i liked herald, he was a card.... but he would not cross a bridge in a car, and NO I'm not joking, if he was in a car with his family, he would have them stop, let him out, and he would walk across ... lol!, and if he had to go to a place where he HAD to cross a bridge, he would not go, unless he had could find another route around, OR had  someone go with him, anyways.... i also heard had had been struck by lightening DIRECTLY.....and had also had a close call with ball lightening ....... whether this is true, or not, i couldn't say, but...... if a thunderstorm roled up, you wouldn't see him at all, for a couple of days....... even a loud noise would send him away, but he was one of the funniest easy going fellas i had the pleasure of knowing ....... i tried a couple times to get him to talk about the direct strike, but he never would, and no one in his family knows much about it..... i know he had all 10 fingers, no idea about his toes (blown off, or not) i would have liked to have heard what happened, with strike, and especially the ball lightening .... 

[WonderMonkey 676]

18 hours ago, _Wilson_™ said:

thank you, WM, in short that is correct! 

 

I don't see a smiley face like I'd get in school, Wilson.

[WonderMonkey 676]

16 hours ago, _Wilson_™ said:

 if your close enough to hear the bolt....... you better be in a vihicile, or low as you can get or you,  can most likely kiss your a-- good bye..... 

 

which bring me to another friend i was thinking about.... Herald Whitley (older gentlemen farmer) who raised tobbacco with us and a few other farmers.... for a few years, and, all together we had over 100 achers .... now that's alot of tobacco!!! for these parts... anyways... i had always heard, herald was funny about certain things, so i used to kid him about those when i would go see him, on Sundays (take him a sundrop, and a snickers candy bar, his wife would bring me a chipped iced up pepsi cola and we would sit on his front porch.... and chew the fat.... i liked herald, he was a card.... but he would not cross a bridge in a car, and NO I'm not joking, if he was in a car with his family, he would have them stop, let him out, and he would walk across ... lol!, and if he had to go to a place where he HAD to cross a bridge, he would not go, unless he had could find another route around, OR had  someone go with him, anyways.... i also heard had had been struck by lightening DIRECTLY.....and had also had a close call with ball lightening ....... whether this is true, or not, i couldn't say, but...... if a thunderstorm roled up, you wouldn't see him at all, for a couple of days....... even a loud noise would send him away, but he was one of the funniest easy going fellas i had the pleasure of knowing ....... i tried a couple times to get him to talk about the direct strike, but he never would, and no one in his family knows much about it..... i know he had all 10 fingers, no idea about his toes (blown off, or not) i would have liked to have heard what happened, with strike, and especially the ball lightening .... 

 

I was waiting to hear why he wouldn't cross a bridge!

[Fishfiles 17,866]

I know a guy named George , he is a shrimper , 30 years ago he  had a Harry Clan which is a type of fiberglass fishing boating in  the 30 ft class , lightning hit his VHF radio antenna which was made of fiberglass and it blow up and splintered , throw pieces of pieces of fiberglass all over him and some went thru the skin , plus he got burnt a bit , all his hair got singed , the boat was saved and renamed , "  Greased Lightning   "  

[_Wilson_™ 6,032]

41 minutes ago, WonderMonkey said:

 

I was waiting to hear why he wouldn't cross a bridge!

 

fixed :D and i have no idea ... why.... the only thing i could get out him was he didn't like bridges.... go figure... maybe it was the water ? or maybe he was on a bridge when he got hit by lightening LOL! i don't have a clue.... but i sure miss the guy, you guys would have enjoyed him... 

[_Wilson_™ 6,032]

this is one five massive pine trees on the south side of my home, don't recall what year it got hit, i didn't hear the strike, but lost a few dishes, from the clap of thunder lol! and in my house was filled the scent of burning pine, which smells good to me, i went out on the back porch, to see what the heck happened, and could still see smoke from the very top of the tree, thankfully it didnt catch.... (knock on wood) i thought forsure that tree would die, but it never did, if it wasn't for that tree being so tall, good chance my home would have taken a direct hit. but who knows .....

[WonderMonkey 676]

/Wow, lots of power.  I'd like to take a look inside that tree.

[_Wilson_™ 6,032]

oh yeah...... it was a massive strike, limbs blown off the top, pine needles scattered everywhere, bark blown off.... later on there was some kind of big black ants , that settle in, but so far, no damage, and they have moved on, i have no idea what species they are, but I've seen the same type in certain types of trees, even split a few chunks of wood, and found the same type deep inside, but it was winter time, and they didnt hardly move..... i reckon a carpenter ant ? but black as the ace of spades.... about 3/4 inch long -+ my guess would be..... they like the sap, the tree bled after the strike ? 

[56Sierra 1,589]

In 1989 I took a position with Conrail in Elkhart IN as a communications and signals supervisor in charge of their new computer system controlling the big classification yard.  I loved that job as there was always something big happening.   Car loads of new Buicks derailing and falling over with the shattered glass glistening in the morning sun, tank cars getting away and free rolling 14 miles away on the main line and thunderstorms.   We had 12, 120, 240 and 480 VAC, 12, 24, 120 and 265 VDC running all over that place and much of it terminated in the computer room.   I swear you could flick a zippo lighter and that computer would go down.  We had a saying, " Every cloud had a lightning bolt marked Elkhart Yard."  That's where I got the little burn hole in my shirt.  Man, what fun that place was.

[LedFTed 1,059]

On 7/21/2021 at 7:12 PM, _Wilson_™ said:

i think you you meant if you hear thunder your close enough to be struck, where did you hear / read lightning stores up over time ? I'd like to read that, because wherever on the net it it's BS! 

not what i said. if lightning could be stored up, i.e. harnessed. (lots of power in those bolts), i think i read a bolt can have over a million volts, dont know how much current.

i do think it resembles static electric. in BE&E school. it was taught, 1 volt, at 1 amp, could kill ya. i dont know if i believe that, but some are more susceptible to electricity.

On 7/21/2021 at 7:38 PM, WonderMonkey said:

 

We felt it before we heard it, which is how it goes.  This was the first thunder of the day ..... AFTER the hit.

 

I didn't think to count to see how far away it was.

5 seconds = 1 mile. supposedly.

Edited July 24, 2021 by LedFTed

[_Wilson_™ 6,032]

one sec equals one mile, lightening travels at the speed light does 186,000 miles per second.

[LedFTed 1,059]

i told this in a previous previous forum, 😉 , my mom bought a modular home. one side was not grounded to the other. Lightning struck near the house, and the propane line was the was looking for a ground, the side of the modular that wasnt grounded. a hole when the copper from propane line arched to the frame, got a hole in it from the spark, caught the insulation on fire in the basement. i was in the basement. my first reflex was to duck,..

lucky, extra two liters of cokes, (soft drinks) were down there, an i removed the tops, squeezed them real hard, an put the fire out, till it started again. then i ran through a heave rain, shut down the propane tank gas valve, ran back to the house, an used some more sodas. fire went out this time. 20 sodas, 2 liters.

i didnt get my shoes an socks wet., in the run to the tank an back. any other time i would have. still a mystery to me.

 i made grounds after that, to the modular.. including hooking up the ones that were left out during installation. i got picts, an will try to post.

usually, by the time you get hit by a bullet, its to late to hear the sound. IMO

34 minutes ago, _Wilson_™ said:

one sec equals one mile, lightening travels at the speed light does 186,000 miles per second.

sound dont.

Edited July 24, 2021 by LedFTed