Strange lightning experience

[Mesophilic]

Was out hunting yesterday and headed back to the truck.  I climbed over a barbed wire fence and put my bow and quiver in the truck. Started to walk around to the driver side and heard a huge section of the fence buzzing like a huge arc welder.  It lasted for about a half second, just long enough to get my attention and look over, and then a huge boom of thunder about made me come out of my skin.   Never saw a flash of lightning, even though the boom was extremely close.  Felt like a bomb went off very nearby. 

I hopped in the truck and that was when it dawned on me,  if I had stopped to take a leak, or anything that would have been a 60 second delay, I would have been touching that fence when it happened.  Thank goodness for small miracles.

[archeryrob]

Yea that is why you feel lightning even when it doesn't hit you. Lightning is coming down from the clouds and reaching up from the ground to connect. You have an upsurge where the ground potential is reaching up to meet the charge in the sky. The bolt is where it connects. You witnessed the upsurge pushing through the barbed wire. It probably wouldn't have hurt you, but it likely would have scared the she-it out of you. 

We sat in the garage on one rough storm watching it as a family. My daughter kept putting her leg against the garage door metal track. I told her to stop and she did it still to spite me. An upsurge shocked her and scared her Chitless! I just said "Would you like to listen to me now?" 

[Zuma]

Strange, wonder why you didn't see the flash.
Zuma

[BowEd]

I can relate here a few times in the past.It really opens ones eyes to realize the power that's there.The boom and flash instantly together is so close it vibrates your chest and almost lifts your body weight off the ground from the concussion.You are fortunate.
It does'nt need metal from the ground either.I cut up for firewood trees killed that are charred here from lightning strikes.Ground sod blew right off shallow roots from trees hit from the travel of the electricity.Bare spots in ground with no trees around seen where nothing grows for months.No pests doing this it's burnt.

[Eric Krewson]

I saw lightning hit in the front yard at night when I was a kid. It formed into a ball about the size of basketball and rolled downhill into the woods.

[sleek]

I saw lightning hit in the front yard at night when I was a kid. It formed into a ball about the size of basketball and rolled downhill into the woods.

Ball lightning is rare and to witness it, that close, is insane! I have read it rolls down hills and when it impacts an object, it explodes.

[Mesophilic]

I saw lightning hit in the front yard at night when I was a kid. It formed into a ball about the size of basketball and rolled downhill into the woods.

Ball lightning is rare and to witness it, that close, is insane! I have read it rolls down hills and when it impacts an object, it explodes.

That sounds like something amazing to witness.   

As a kid in AZ we'd sit up on a mesa and watch the most spectacular lightning displays during the monsoons.  Often it would be a 360 degree show.  Maybe not too smart being the highest object around for a ways.

Did know a guys who's car was EMP'd from being too close to a strike.   He was in the car and said the strike hit the ground just a couple of feet next to the passenger side.  Then the car went dead.  Had to replace the computer and several other sensitive parts to get the car running again. 

[Chippintuff]

When I was in high school in the early sixties, My brother, my grandfather and I were standing at an outdoor anvil that had been used in a blacksmith shop. I was trying to make a small part for our tractor. I heard a sizzling sound and looked around to see an old horse drawn planter with it's marker arms sticking up. It was lit up with electricity and little balls of fire all over it. It was about 40-50 feet from us. Just after seeing the planter lit up like Christmas, we heard a big boom in the cloud directly over our heads. We made a fast dash to the house. No harm was done, but I often thought about the fact that we were probably hovered around a better grounded object than the old planter was. Sometimes that "guardian angel" is there. While living there I also had another close call with lightning and felt it strong in my knees, but was unharmed.

WA

[sleek]

I was driving in my diesel a month back and am convinced the truck was hit. Bright blinding flash all around me and a very idd sounding quick boom. Almost sounded like an echo. No bolt seen, just electric blue all around. My truck was unharmed.

[Marc St Louis]

When I was much younger and perhaps a bit more foolish I would go outside during thunderstorms.  Static charges hit me a couple times from distant bolts one of which made me jump a couple feet off the ground, I decided to stop doing that after that happened.

Several years ago our house got hit from a bolt that struck very near to us, several electronic devices blew from that hit.  My ex swore she saw lightning come through the window and strike me but I didn't feel a thing.

[Eric Krewson]

I was living in an old farmhouse in the 70s, I was supposed to be studying for an upgrade exam at work but had been lured into watching some stupid game show on my B&W TV.

A storm was passing through and a bolt of lightning hit about 15 feet from the house, it ran in on main line from the meter and popped the TV like a flashbulb. The bolt also dug about a 3' crater next to house. The meter was blown about 20ft up the hill from the house.

I had the power restored to the house but didn't buy a new TV, I studied, passed my exams and moved up at the plant.

At the time my son was in the first grade and couldn't get past D in his ABCs, he could however sing every commercial on TV verbatim. He was diagnosed with brain damage, fitted with glasses he didn't need and listed as mentally retarded.

I thought this was all hogwash and took matters into my own hands. I left the TV out and started giving my son comic books. I would read them to him and encourage him to read along, soon he was reading the comic books by himself. Next it was children's books then adult books. My so called brain damaged kid was reading on a high school level when he was 8 or 9.

I left the TV out for 5 years, as a family we sat down and read our books in the evening for entertainment.

The kid turned out OK, after a stint in the Air Force he went on to Auburn and finished second in his class.

I still feel the lightning strike was a bit of divine intervention to get things back on track for me and my family.

[bjrogg]

One night my wife and I were laying in bed listening to the thunder from a lightning storm. Suddenly the air in our bedroom started to make a crackling noise followed immediately by a thunder boom. We both agreed that was enough electricity in the bedroom. I still remember trying to flatten myself out as much as I could with the crackling in the air just above us.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

It seems many of us have been lucky or the wiser from an experience with lightning.
Many times while disking in the fields I should of packed it in and went to the yard with inclement weather coming but wanted to finish the field before a rain.Always thought I was grounded good with my tires to be safe.Feel fortunate.I always felt it was bound to happen sometime though.
Around here one of the tallest trees is a cottonwood.80' tall most times or more.We had one take a hit by lightning on our yard.I remember it happening like an explosion from a bomb.Chunks of wood of pretty good size were well over 100 yards away.
My neighbor lived on the end of an electrical service line.Lightning struck onto the electrical line one early morning.It blew out the fuse box on the yard pole and in his house while they were having breakfast the toaster vibrated and walked across their table like a robot sizzling and then popping with a loud pop and stopping.....lol.....If that don't wake you up nothing will.
Another neighbor was out in his field walking checking newly planted crops and lightning knocked him out striking next to him.He did'nt suffer any complications from it though but had a healthy respect for it later on.

[Parnell]

Living in FL, lightning becomes part of life, like snow to northern winter.  Never have seen it roll down hill...but there would need to be hills first for that to happen!

It's so frequent down here in the wet season that I think people start to become lazy regarding safety and getting to cover well before its on them. 

[Hawkdancer]

There are stories out here about ball lightning getting on the noses of cattle, and starting stampedes.  We often get hot storms with constant flashes, had one at Turkey Camp in the Black Hills this spring, lasted about 5 - 6 hours.  When you feel the hair raising on the back of your neck, and your arms, hit the deck - it is on the way!  Hear it, fear it; see it, flee it!  Get off the mountain early, like noon!
Hawkdancer