Lightening Strikes....again.

[Gwynned]

This post caught my eye because on that same night, on the West Coast, in Northern California, we witnessed the most spectacular lightening show I have ever seen.


Lightning Strike Starts Fire That Destroys Pine Hills Home
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Lightning strikes put firefighters on the run all over Central Florida on Tuesday afternoon. There were several reports of lightning hitting homes and businesses. Fire gutted a house on Sarazen Drive in Pine Hills near Hastings.

Firefighters weren't sure if the lightning struck a nearby tree or the house, or maybe both. But one thing was likely, the nearby pine trees acted like lightning rods.

We witnessed 3 hours of non-stop rapid fire lightening streaks, an event which was annotated in the local paper., in a section aptly called "Bolt from the Blue."

http://www.times-standard.com/

I originate from the Midwest and have seen more than my share of thunderstorms and lightening, but this light show was distinct from anything I've ever witnessed in that the strikes came one upon the other with such rapidity, with only a few seconds in between. Everyone remarked as to how strange it seemed - like the beginning of War of the Worlds.

Maggie

 

[Laura]

Well, we had it here in France too, last Monday night. Winds up to 150 KM per hour just down the road, trees and half trees and huge limbs down all over. We had water coming in where water never came in before. It was coming sideways for about 15/20 minutes. Hail, too. The gang was outside watching the light show and it was pretty much in the distace - or so it seemed - and then, it became apparent it was going to hit, so the guys jumped up to close the shutters and my daughter went to pick up a potted plant to take inside. She said that between the time she bent over to pick it up and standing up, the wind hit that fast and nearly blew her away. In an instant, all the porch furniture went sailing across the yard, and it was almost impossible to close the shutters against the wind.

I was sitting at my desk and it was just sort of starting to rain normally and then, all of a sudden, the window blew open so hard that it knocked the floor lamp over and water began pouring on ME sitting about five feet from the window! And I mean POURING. I jumped up to close the window (double door type) and I almost wasn't strong enough!

I can remember one really weird storm back in 1986 when the crashing lightning was bigger and meaner sounding than anything I had ever heard in my life and is was "moving," like walking along a straight line. It was also regular, like huge footsteps. Creeped me out majorly!

 

[Lucy]

I was sitting at my desk and it was just sort of starting to rain normally and then, all of a sudden, the window blew open so hard that it knocked the floor lamp over and water began pouring on ME sitting about five feet from the window! And I mean POURING. I jumped up to close the window (double door type) and I almost wasn't strong enough!

Laura, I hope your computer didn't get damaged from the rain pouring in on you!

Sounds like pretty strange weather for France! I've heard of the Mistral, but isn't that only in winter? Your storm sounds pretty odd to me, although also rather exciting...of course I didn't have to contend with it. :)

Here where I live we expect to have spectacular electrical storms this time of year, ones that come with strong winds, heavy rains, tornadoes, and hail. This month (June) we've already had some memorable ones.

Last week we had a storm that started with rolling thunder, very loud, that went on and on without even a momentary break. I'd never heard anything like it. I was waiting for a 'pause' that never came. It went on like this for over half an hour and I finally got online to check for tornado warnings since I knew I'd never hear the warning siren over the sound of the thunder. Just as I pulled up the page saying there was a dangerous storm headed our way and that people should stay inside due to the threat from lightning, there was a very bright flash of lightning that lit up the whole room; simultaneously there was a clap of thunder that seemed to shake the building. It was so loud it startled me to the point that I jumped and 'yelped', to my daughter's great amusement. Then the rain started. After about 3 hours the storm was over, but it left the gutters flooded and a neighbors who'd left her car parked on the street reported having to wade barefooted in water almost up to her knees to get into her car to go to work.

I tend not to worry about the tornadoes since I'm in a basement apartment. In fact, when the warning siren goes off everyone in the building has a standing invitation to gather here for a tornado party. But flooding is a different story. This is the first year I've been worried about my apartment getting flooded, although so far all I've had is a little water dripping down one of my walls.

Earlier in the month we had a storm that included 2 small tornadoes and hail was so bad that a small town nearby was literally 'closed down'...they say there was so much hail there that it look like four inches of snow on the ground. There were trees down, road damage, and some flooding from the rain (especially basements). Campers at a local lake were quickly evacuated when authorities were warned a tornado was heading straight for them, and went back later to find all their stuff either totalled or just plain gone. As for lightning, the roof of the hospital got a direct hit (they evacuated some floors because of smoke), as did a car in the lot at a local video rental store. There were people in the car, but no one was hurt, just scared half to death.

Last summer I remember watching, night after night, as lightning flashed in the distance, maybe about fifty miles away to the east of us. It was like watching a days-long battle taking place in the distance, as if we could hear the distant 'thunder' of artillary and see the flash of shells bursting in the air. I couldn't help but think about battles in 4-D being represented by weather. All my neighbors would gather out on the front lawn each night to watch and talk about how 'spooky' it was.

Lately even the oldtimers around here, who like to relate stories of lightning balls rolling along fences and other odd happenings, are talking about how strange our weather has become. Everyone's scratching their heads and wondering aloud at, "What's going on?!" And one of the things that always comes up is how quickly these storms hit. I'd gladly share my ideas on the subject, but they'd just think I'm nutty. Heck, they already think I'm kinda nutty...well nice-nutty in a generally harmless way. People are used to me saying "life is religion" and "its all lessons." Sometimes it even gets repeated back to me! But I can just imagine if I told them what I thought of the weather. :D

 

[Cyre2067]

Odd, we had the same thing, entire east coast got nailed with rain. There was flooding up and down Pennsylvania, some local residents had to get evac'd on boats!

The lightning was ominous too, it was heat based, up in the sky, with flashes of light coming from the horizon. Looked like something out of a movie.

This was just last night.