Spring is right around the corner, and these gorgeous days are spoiling me. Little leagues of soccer and baseball will soon start in earnest, and weekends will be more packed with outdoor activities in the user-friendly temperatures.
Spring is also a very volatile time of year as the polar and subtropical jet streams duke it out for dominance, changing air masses rapidly and firing up potentially strong thunderstorms in the process.
And so I just wanted to reitterate the importance of respecting lightning and not tempting fate by thinking "oh, it won't harm me"...I have some video links of people that probably thought the same thing.
The title phrase is appropriately true...lightning can jump laterally up to 10 miles, so while you may see a storm to your southwest but you are in pure sunshine, a bolt really can come 'out of the blue' and hit well away from the storm.
In a pool and hear thunder? OUT, no ifs ands or buts. Outside and caught in a storm? NEVER stand under a tree. The legendary golfer Lee Trevino once quipped a golfer could hold up a 1-iron in a storm and be safe because even God can't hit a 1-iron...a little golfing humor for you.
I'll do a future post with a lot more trivia and facts about lightning at a later date...for now, have fun watching these video links I pooled together. Most of 'em anyway (see notes...!)
Spring is also a very volatile time of year as the polar and subtropical jet streams duke it out for dominance, changing air masses rapidly and firing up potentially strong thunderstorms in the process.
And so I just wanted to reitterate the importance of respecting lightning and not tempting fate by thinking "oh, it won't harm me"...I have some video links of people that probably thought the same thing.
The title phrase is appropriately true...lightning can jump laterally up to 10 miles, so while you may see a storm to your southwest but you are in pure sunshine, a bolt really can come 'out of the blue' and hit well away from the storm.
In a pool and hear thunder? OUT, no ifs ands or buts. Outside and caught in a storm? NEVER stand under a tree. The legendary golfer Lee Trevino once quipped a golfer could hold up a 1-iron in a storm and be safe because even God can't hit a 1-iron...a little golfing humor for you.
I'll do a future post with a lot more trivia and facts about lightning at a later date...for now, have fun watching these video links I pooled together. Most of 'em anyway (see notes...!)
Amazing lightning strike
Lightning strike #2
Lightning strike montage to a U-2 tune (long, but nice)
News story about a car hit by lightning
Lightning strike #2
Lightning strike montage to a U-2 tune (long, but nice)
News story about a car hit by lightning
(very odd song and video, this followingone...came up in the search and it was so odd I had to watch it)
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