Ever been close to lightning strike or NDE?

[Willoughbyva]

I've been pretty close to lightning a few times in my life. Anywhere from 20' to 50 yards. I think it changed me a lot.

Also when I was born they didn't know for a week if I was going to live or not. So yeah my life has been kind of weird.

Have you or anyone you know had similar experiences?


Perry

 

[Scouzer]

I work in a control tower. It's only a matter of time.

 

[BoomerD]

Spending nearly 30 years as a crane operator, I've had the experience of being the tallest grounded object a couple of times.

Once outside Ely, Nevada, the other time in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

It's a pretty eerie feeling when the rig builds up that positive charge...and you SEE the lightning hit the boom tip and race down the boom and the wire rope towards you in a huge flash...and there ain't a dammed thing you can do about it when it happens.

MOST of the time, when a storm builds, everyone shuts down until the electric storm passes, but once in a while, the storm comes up on you fast, or from over the top of a mountain where you don't see it until it's too late...and POW!

The amount of damage the current can do to a crane is amazing. I've had 1" wire rope burn in half, nasty burns and arcs in steel and bronze bearings , and electrical systems totally fry.

Fortunately, in neither case was anyone hurt when this happened. Had an ironworker or pipefitter been holding onto the load, or had someone been standing close to the crane...

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Spending nearly 30 years as a crane operator, I've had the experience of being the tallest grounded object a couple of times.

Once outside Ely, Nevada, the other time in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

It's a pretty eerie feeling when the rig builds up that positive charge...and you SEE the lightning hit the boom tip and race down the boom and the wire rope towards you in a huge flash...and there ain't a dammed thing you can do about it when it happens.

MOST of the time, when a storm builds, everyone shuts down until the electric storm passes, but once in a while, the storm comes up on you fast, or from over the top of a mountain where you don't see it until it's too late...and POW!

The amount of damage the current can do to a crane is amazing. I've had 1" wire rope burn in half, nasty burns and arcs in steel and bronze bearings , and electrical systems totally fry.

Fortunately, in neither case was anyone hurt when this happened. Had an ironworker or pipefitter been holding onto the load, or had someone been standing close to the crane...

I saw lightning hit one of those construction cranes when I worked for GTE Telenet. It was at night so no one was in the thing but right after the lightning hit it it appeared to have done something to whatever held it stationary as it started to move around with the wind after the strike.

When I was a kid lightning came in to my grandmothers house through the TV antenna on the roof, blew up the rotor box and toasted the TV, and did a little light show in the living room.

 

[Demo24]

yes, and it was incredibly loud. The whole house shook for some time, and our satellite never worked the same afterwards.

 

[IGBT]

..ya. about 50 yards. It was night in a wilderness area. Extremly dark. Then suddenly the woods lit up in a very intense blue/white light that was so bright it washed the color out of everything and all took on a black/white appearance. Lasted for about 10 seconds then the lights went out followed by hellacious thunder that shook the ground and felt like an earthquake. We found the tree it struk the next morning. The top was blown off it and it had a strip of bark blown off and followed a circular pattern like a barber pole from top to bottom. There was burnt pine needles at the base of the tree. A few weeks later the tree was oozing sap from the missing bark.

 

[amdhunter]

I live in NYC...according to daily news reports, I am living through NDE's every waking moment of my life.

When will all the terrorists leave NYC already.

 

[shocksyde]

I've felt the hair on my head raise towards the sky before. I hit the deck immediately and lightning struck very close. I don't know how close because I had my head covered, but the shock wave from the thunder was amazing. I love weather!

 

[Old Hippie]

I had one strike very close. Everything got extremely quiet, I could feel my body hair rising, and then a tremendous noise/shockwave. It probably all happened within one second. Freaky.

 

[Old Hippie]

Spending nearly 30 years as a crane operator, I've had the experience of being the tallest grounded object a couple of times.

I saw that happen once. I was shocked when the operator emerged safely. He was shaking a lot, but not hurt. If anybody ever needed a drink, it was him.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

My dad was struck back in 2005, thankfully survived it and is doing just fine

 

[NuclearNed]

A few years ago the wife and I took our puppy on a local hike to a popular waterfall. The forecast had said clear skies all day. As we got closer to the falls, we noted that the sky was growing ever more ominous. Right when we got there, I took out my video camera to get some footage of the falls... and all heck broke loose. Since we were high up in the mountains, our immediate area was getting the brunt of the lightning strikes. I don't remember any of them being super close to us, but it was terrifying anyway. We hustled the 2 miles off the mountain in a torrential downpour while the lightning hit all around us.

As a result, our dog has grown up to be extremely nervous about storms. Also, I have a really short video clip of the moment the storm broke open, just to prove that it happened.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Willoughbyva
I've been pretty close to lightning a few times in my life. Anywhere from 20' to 50 yards. I think it changed me a lot.

Also when I was born they didn't know for a week if I was going to live or not. So yeah my life has been kind of weird.

Have you or anyone you know had similar experiences?


Perry

Yeah, I've been maybe 20' away from lightning bolts too, and strangely enough when I was born they didn't know if I was going to make it. I was born 2 months early by caesarian section, I spent the first couple of weeks in an incubator.

 

[George P Burdell]

During the 2004 hurricane season, I was in a car driving 20-25 and lightning struck an electrical post or power distribution thingy some 50' ahead. There was a bright white/purple flash which screwed up my vision for the next few seconds.

During the same night, a tree fell down on a friend's car that was parked on campus. Hilarity did not ensue.

 

[BornStar]

I was leaning against a wet support post when the pavilion I was in got struck by lightning. I got a nice shock out of that one.

We also had a tree in our backyard get struck by lightning although were were out of town so I didn't get to experience it. Our neighbor said it was pretty spectacular.