I was just mowing my yard (in central KY) and my wife made me come in because there was lightning striking all around us. We live on a knob surrounded by six acres of grass and four of trees.
Then I open up the internet to see this thread...
Good thing you did not get hit. It looks like it ruins your clothes.
Eee-lect-risity is nothing to fool with. Ben Franklin not excepted....
Wise woman!
You must have been mildly shocked.
Your wife was correct to make you come inside.
Several years ago, my Uncle was working outside. There was a little thunder in the distance but he wasn’t worried because it was several miles away.
Then, boom. A strike knocked him to the ground. He was very lucky in that he only suffered some leg pain for several days. He learned his lesson.
About a year ago, I was outside. It was mostly sunny with just a few clouds.
Then, suddenly came a bright flash and a tremendous boom. Scared the living daylights out of me. At first, I thought we had been nuked.
It was just one huge roar of thunder & an angry flash of lightning. What was so weird is that it came from nowhere. One strike and that was it.
I ran inside the house. A few hours later I discovered that the lightning had killed my DVR. That’s how strong that single lightning strike was. As I said before, it was a shock because it was a mostly sunny day with one slightly dark cloud. I guess that one slightly dark cloud was enough.
Lightning is so dangerous.