What are the worst lightning storms you have been in?

[kruzzen]

So whether you chase storms, spot storms or just happen to be in them, tell us all your worst lightning storm stories? Have you ever been struct? Has anything ever been struct very close to you? Have you ever been terrified due to a certain lightning event? Tell us all your crazy lightning stories???!!!

[DanS]

As a kid, leaning over the kitchen sink (stainless steel) to watch an approaching storm, lightning struck through the same window and hit the sink. Don't remember what all was in the sink but do remember the silverware scattering all over.

[kruzzen]

Wow! That would be nuts and especially since you were a child. I'd be scared to go near windows after that as a kid experiencing something in that nature. Did it give you any kind of PTSD of going near windows during an electrical storm or anything like that? Did you get harmed at all?

[DanS]

No harm but I did learn real quick about respecting lightning and where not to be during a storm.

Got to see my grandparents cellar of their home in Maine. It was basically a pit dug into slate. The walls and floor were slate stone and during a lightning storm you could stick your head down the stairs and watch lightning dancing around the room. eerie!

During my working years I had to climb radio/telephone towers for antenna work and to see the condition of the lightning rods at the top kind of reinforced my respect for it.

[chief-david]

We had a phone blown off the wall one night. Lighting hit the above ground phone lines around a mile away. We were at the end of the line.

I was walking into the kitchen-sparks flew out of the wall, smoked and the phone popped off the wall. 
Mom had been talking on it about 10 minutes before that.

[Dr Obbins]

Caught this one on the webcam at 3:30 AM. It is brighter than daylight in the middle of the night. Knocked out the computer and weather station. But it gave a great excuse to upgrade to a VP2! 

[IMADreamer]

Well I have a few.  May 25, 2004 just around sundown some friends and I were all hanging out when a tornado warning was issued, being young dumb and recent Met school grads we walked out about 100 yards to the field near our house to get a good view of the storm approaching from the west.  It looked awesome, black as night, clear shelf cloud approaching rapidly, then all the sudden lightning struck the field no more then 50 feet from us.  We all high tailed it inside and by the time we got into the house the wind came and blew almost every tree in town down, including one that fell on the house. 

Story two, it was harvest time and we were trying to finish a field before the storm hit.  The combine had just finished the last 12 rows of corn and I was in the auger wagon tractor waiting for him to unload into it and I would high tail it to the shed.  As my uncle turns out of the finished row of corn lightning hits the combine and stops it dead.  I was afraid my uncle was hurt but he was fine.  The lightning toasted all the electronics in the combine. 

The most lightning I ever saw was last spring, we had been rained out by a previous severe storm around 5pm so we decided to all go have dinner in town.  After dinner it was dark and another severe storm was hitting, the drive home was marked by blinding rain and such frequent lightning that it looked like daytime for a good 10 minutes.  Never seen anything like it.

[W Thomas]

This subject brings two events in particular to mind. One was when I was younger maybe 14-15yrs and was sitting on the back of truck with the tailgate down. There was a storm approaching but it didn't really seem like much at the time..but I was young and dumb in those days and didn't know what to look for in terms of storms.. anyway lightning struck in the field adjacent to the truck maybe 50-175 feet away and I'm not sure if it was a transient or a feeler or what but something electrified that tailgate knocking me in on the ground wondering just what the heck had happened. No real damage ( that I'm aware of but it sure jarred my world for a while!   Second time was when I was doing lineman work for a utility outfit. Was already on the pole when a storm came up quick from behind so I buttoned up what I had to do ASAP and as I was starting my climb back down from approximately 50 feet up I heard a loud crack then the thunder boom and a tree right above me on the hill come crashing to the ground.. Talk about shaky knees on that climb down!!  Didn't get any effects at all from the strike other than a temporary case of hard hearing but I just made it back to the back of the truck and jumped in when the hail began.

Maybe all these "at odds with weather" situations are what made my interest in weather so strong

Guess it's no wonder why my back is totally messed up now

[inflatus]

While as a medic in the Army I was in Thailand when a storm hit at night. My platoon was sprawled out on the ground. We could feel the electricity all around us when the lightning seemed to hit. It was pretty amazing.

[ocala]

Got caught in the Everglades when my boat motor took a dump. Nothing we could do except get down on our knees in the boat. Just remember the bottom of the boat lightning up with every strike and thinking we would be the next one. Next came pea size hail with about 40mph winds. Pea size hail does hurt!

[W Thomas]

That sure sounds rough!!   Did you contemplate the sledge hammer to the boat motor scenario when you got back to shore 
Metal boat on a world of water is not a good place in a thunderstorm.  I gotta agree  pea sized hair definitely DOES hurt !

[SLOweather]

I gotta agree  pea sized hair definitely DOES hurt !

Ewww...

[Farmtalk]

Back in 2007, we had a line of thunderstorms that knocked down a BUNCH of trees in the area....Debris was all over the place. It happened in June, but I could not tell you the date.

We recently have had two lightning bolts that nearly hit my house...That is an extreme rarity.

[W Thomas]

I gotta agree  pea sized hair definitely DOES hurt !

Ewww...

That too   But that's what happens when you have phat fingers also

Didn't even catch that one..

[PoppaRob]

Hello All,

Back in 97 or 96, I was hit indirectly by lightening, the city water company does not disconnect the line that connects to the house line, you or a plumber have to disconnect it, reason for disconnecting was meter was bad, city had to replace it, anyway there was a storm coming, we could see the dark clouds coming, there was no wind, no thunder could be heard, so we thought no lightening, no problem,

I was down on my hands and knees in water and mud, wet grass with a 1" copper line in one hand and the meter in the other, leaning on my elbows trying to pull them apart, when Bam, it hit in the back of my house, came threw water line and hit me, knocked me back about 10 feet they said, I got up walked over to my front steps and sat down, asked my friend to call my wife at work and just sat there until she came home, we went to the hospital and they took some readings and did some test and I had a headache from h*ll, I just wanted them to turn off the lights in the dark room I was laying down in while they did all of this, see my eyes where covered and the room was totally dark, the light was from the lightening, this and what happened after the hit I was told by others for I don't know/remember anything for a few days before and after, for real,

I had burn marks on my back coming up to my head, over the top and down my nose and around my eyes, around my mouth and chin, today I deal with memory lost, headaches, eyes hurt when I over do reading or look at the TV or computer screens for a long time, at times I have to use zinc soap to help remove the skin that flakes off my face or head or around my eyes which makes you think its dandruff, just bigger, my bones and joints hurt like h*ll which is more related to the lightening says the doctors, me I think between my age and the hard work I have done over the years plus this I am lucky I can walk after a few hours of being up and warming up my body, joints, I need to replace my knees, hips and have had one spinal surgery in the L4 down to the end of the tailbone, to help with the pain of sitting,

I can at times can tell you when its going to lighten with in say 2 mins before it happens, lol, the weather is a real pain for me too, fronts and storms bring out more pain at times, this is my story and I could change it but then I would be lying, lol

Poppa Rob

[Farmtalk]

I never knew someone that got hit by lightning!

That sure would scare me if I lived!

[PoppaRob]

farmtalk,

I did not scare me, I was totally shocked by it, lol, I was, well still am a electrician, I have been shocked in the past by voltage of 49DC which hurts like hell, 120 and 240 which rattles your teeth, 277 which is one leg of 480 and 480, not full direct shock but more like shock with the breaker tripping except the 277 was a neutral that feel out of a ceiling and hit me in the neck really good,

I think all of that help keep me alive or to survive the lightening, lol, you might say I am not a good electrician cause I was shocked so much, in every case i either told some one to turn it off or it was off and someone came and turned it back on even though there was a sign saying not to turn it on, commercial work is dealing with idiots and people that can't read, also I only did not catch one person and give them a talking to with my hands, once I got up or found out who did it, lol, for over 25 years of that work, a work I still love and wish I could still do,

Ok, bed time for me so I hope to get there in a few more hours, before 1 AM

Later

[Farmtalk]

Well it's good that you havent hurt yourself too seriously

[fatbloke-dim]

July ,'92,
Tamiami airfield , south Miami,
Weeks air museum .

Me and my missus , were visiting with a a mate of mine  , to the warbird collection there . This being Miami in late July , weather was running to script ,with approaching , darkening skies . "Good , " thought I  ,well - you would would'nt you being a storm fiend ? The degree of blackness ,was ,however , something an order of magnitude above the usual afternoon "splash and dash " usually brought in tow  , I was nearly peeing my pants at the anticipation of it ! It seemed to arrive without any preamble , one minute threatening  ,next minute  ,on you  - no build up, if you'll pardon the pun .

There was a B-25 out on the ramp we decided to look at before the rain hit , and whilst walking back to the hangar , there was an almighty great "plop/clop/crack" kind of  noise felt rather than heard , and what felt like a good ear-boxing that blurred your vision . That was the sudden arrival of the show . All over before you realised . Her Ladyship ended up on her arse , on the tarmac ,we eventually scrambled in an undignified heap into said hangar  ,whereupon we were told that a stroke was observed to "hit" between us ,as were walking 3-in-a-line back to the hangar . Estimated variously as between 10 to 30 feet from us by witnesses . Not sure about that estimate , but it was close enough for me  ,thankyou very much . Her Ladyship was reduced to a gibbering heap on the floor of the hangar  , she's always been windy of weather like this , but now she be even more convinced every bolt has her name on it .

A few years later in Sarasota ,we parked next the sea to watch a storm , the sea giving us a good wide vista right where the action was , when there was a loud crack and flash as a wooden telegraph  pole within 20 feet of the car took one right on the nose !
One day in Setember 02 , I was heading back to 'Vegas on the 15 freeway , and right in front of my very eyes , a bolt found the top of the "Big Shot" ride on the Stratosphere tower . Best look at an actual strike I've ever had  , that .

As for continual action , flying between Darwin and Singapore earlier this year , there was a cell that was like someone arc-welding , absolutely continual lightning , never thought that intensity of strokes possible ! Made up somewhat for a Top End trip that got largely washed out due to persisting monsoonal and cyclone conditions .

Thunderstorms.......best weather ever !!

[Farmtalk]

That sounds awesome! We dont get a lot of strong storms through here, but it is sure fun when they come!

[Aquatic]

That was happened to my weather colleague yesterday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDlCT4cnFF0