had a nasty t-storm come through this morning. In the 45 minutes it was here, it flooded several intersections to the brim like this:
And started to flood my basement. While I was down there with the shop vac in almost ankle deep water, lightning struck nearby, dimmed the lights, and I felt it all the way up my legs.
Not a good way to start the day.. but it sure beats coffee.
Are you implying that coffee is a bad way to start the day?
Lightning once struck only feet in front of me. I swear I stared right into the lightning itself, it was surreal. It was so loud and so instant I almost shi* myself. Put a little crater in the ground. Not something to mess with for sure.
I was under a tree that got hit back when I was in high school. We were at baseball practice and figured it was safer than being out in the field. Maybe not, but we didn't have a lot of options. It was loud and bright.
1.21 gigawatts , 1.22 gigawatts. Whatever it takes.
I have been close before. Once at sea and once up in the mountains. The one at sea was close enough that I could feel the heat.. this was the first time I ever got shocked though
mad_machine wrote: And started to flood my basement. While I was down there with the shop vac in almost ankle deep water, lightning struck nearby, dimmed the lights, and I felt it all the way up my legs. Not a good way to start the day.. but it sure beats coffee.
remember working on the Cobra Jet Mach 1 one day... lying on my back in a thunderstorm... bolt of lightening nearby... felt it in my back...... definitely something I'd prefer to not repeat
I've been hit by lightning once, barely, that was enough. When it starts thundering and you're on a roof 30 ft off the ground, setting up 30 ft vertical antennas, quit 20 minutes ago. I only got a little bite, the other guy up there with me got hit hard enough his arm went numb for the day.
I have heard that is sounds like sizzling bacon close up. Any sound that you recall?
I was out in my back yard watching a squall come up when there was a lightning strike maybe 20 feet from me. It was still clear where I was and still bright so I didn't really see a blinding flash. I remember sitting down instantly without any control over my leg muscles.
The better half was laying out on the foredeck of:
watching a storm front roll in across Lake Superior when the mast took a hit.
Good grief! No wonder you people are whackos! Half of you have been struck by lightning!
Explains a lot, it does.
Riding across an old concrete bridge when a storm rolled across the river. Lightning struck a nearby metal light pole will friends and I were underneath. Even separated via rubber tires and grips, we all got zapped.
It's been a hot and humid couple days here. I actually prefer this sticky weather to the cold and snow that we had last winter. But now I'm sitting on my deck with a Narragansett Summer Ale and there's thunder and lightning all around me. Not directly overhead yet, and not raining yet. Maybe I should move indoors. 
Was dirt biking one afternoon and a thunderstorm was rolling in so I started making tracks for home. I was on a powerline right of way when I felt my hair stand up inside the helmet (MOST unpleasant) and the bike (1980 Yamaha TT250G) started misfiring. Guess '80's electronic ignitions weren't well protected. At about the same time, lightning hit behind me close enough to feel the heat, see the flash and hear the bang (no it isn't thunder that close) all at the same time. I took off like a shot, screw all that crap about lightning never strikes the same place twice.
In reply to mad_machine:
i cant see the pic, how deep did it get?
riding home from school (school bus) and without any sound there was a blue/sparkling/twinkling ball rolling across the yard we were passing .. it scooted up a tree and exploded at the top .. taking out the top 1/3 of the pine … eerie … the hair stood up on my arms … but the silence was just eerie
pinchvalve wrote: I have heard that is sounds like sizzling bacon close up. Any sound that you recall?
Lighting hit a light standard in a parking lot 2 cars away from me, when I was a teenager.
You know that scene early on in T2 where the tow truck slams into a bridge abutment, and the loose battery cable makes an arc? Exactly like that, but times a million. It was very very loud. All the car alarms in the parking lot went off. It did NOT sound like thunder.
Lightning struck a tree in our backyard a few years ago, I was about 30 feet away. It was the loudest thing I ever care to experience. It was a very loud crackling sound followed immediately by an explosion. It may have resembled bacon sizzling from farther away, but it did not smell like bacon, that's for sure. 
It blew a huge chunk out of the base of the tree but the tree lives to this day.
They say if you can hear thunder you are close enough to the storm be struck by lightning. I still love sitting in the garage with the lights off watching a storm roll over. I live on the edge.
To the OP, if you were ankle deep in water holding any part of a running electrical appliance when lightning struck nearby, you are lucky as hell. Glad to hear you're OK.
concussive strikes are just crazy to be near.
Was in the garage a few years ago when lightning hit a utility pole three houses down,traveled through the phone line and out an old phone jack in the garage my son and I were about five feet from.It gets your attention.
madmallard wrote: In reply to mad_machine: i cant see the pic, how deep did it get?
cowl deep on a mustang in 45 minutes.. and we live close to the oceans with no real rivers nearby.. so it was not a "flash" flood.. just all the rain settling into the low areas
wbjones wrote: riding home from school (school bus) and without any sound there was a blue/sparkling/twinkling ball rolling across the yard we were passing .. it scooted up a tree and exploded at the top .. taking out the top 1/3 of the pine … eerie … the hair stood up on my arms … but the silence was just eerie
Ball lightning is a really berkeleyed up phenomenon. I have only seen it once.
my grandmother had a shot of "ball lightning" come down the drive, into her house, roll around the kitchen, and disappear down the sink's pipes.
According to my uncle, there was a bar out in Minnesota or Wisconsin where during a thunderstorm, they would make everyone get off of the lower part of the floor where the pool tables were.. because ball lightning would form and just roll around down there...
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