Posted on 05/15/2023 9:39:32 PM PDT by Paul R.
Very interesting storm in Southeast MO tonight! This thing popped out a lightning bolt 35 miles(!!!) in front of any precip showing on radar.
Have any of these been recorded at a greater distance?
Imagine thinking - oh, we have at least 1/2 hour B4 the storm gets here, and then this thing zaps you "out of the blue".
!!
One of our better radar "redistributors" in the region:
https://www.wsiltv.com/weather/interactive-radar/
(Different TV station from the report on the lightning bolt discussed. No vid from original report, unfortunately.)
Stay safe FRiend!
Thanks! I’m certainly not going out... ;-)
The nicest I ever saw was when I lived in the country. I lived across the road from a farmer’s field. One stormy night, I could seeba lightning bolt strike his field a couple miles away and it seemed to be about ten feet thick and it was fairly straight. Not many bends in it.
The nicest lightning bolt I ever saw was when I lived in the country. I lived across the road from a farmer’s field. One stormy night, I could seeba lightning bolt strike his field a couple miles away and it seemed to be about ten feet thick and it was fairly straight. Not many bends in it.
Looks like the storm is bearing down on Cape Girardeau.
There were flash flood warnings for counties west of there earlier tonight.
Tampa is/was known as the “lightning capital of the world”. I can remember days running the few steps from my covered parking to the door of my condo when it literally felt like I was dodging grenades.
The world’s most active lightning spot is not Tampa. It’s in an area of Venezuela know for it’s lightning.
Here are the world’s top ten lightning hotspots, each listed with the average lightning flashes per square kilometer per year:
1 Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, 232.52
2 Kabare, Dem. Rep. of Congo, 205.31
3 Kampene, Dem. Rep. of Congo, 176.71
4 Caceres, Colombia, 172.29
5 Sake, Dem. Rep. of Congo, 143.21
6 Dagar, Pakistan, 143.11
7 El Tarra, Colombia, 138.61
8 Nguti, Cameroon, 129.58
9 Butembo, Dem. Rep. of Congo, 129.50
10 Boende, Dem. Rep. of Congo, 127.52
Hence the “was”. :)
No pics?
Didn’t happen/ s
I was playing softball outside one when lighting hit a tree right when I was looking at it.
It blew apart like an explosion.
Awesome to witness.
I also had a bolt hit somewhere VERY CLOSE behind me once- it was the loudest thing I ever heard, I saw my shadow from it, and my chickens (all 30 of them) flew up in the air at once around me.
Lightning is fun
I had just passed a smoke to a friend, leaned back in my chair, when a lightning bolt came in through the window and passed between us at about eye level.
We were just a few feet from each other.
It smacked into the fireplace and cracked a brick.
And then the boom.
Wow.
Now, THAT is a close call. I guess it’s a good thing most FReepers are “highly resistive”. Heh-heh. ;-)
This image was as the met (Noah Bergren) was drawing out the arrow — when it actually “touched” the radar image of the storm it said 34.8 miles.
If I'd known the lightning could jump 30+ miles AHEAD of a storm (usually these "bolts from the blue" are from behind a storm), my GPA might have suffered significantly!
(I never tried riding into a storm to beat it back home!)
#13 lighting hit a tree right when I was looking at it.
In short do not mess with Mr K or else ZAP!
We had one of these bolts from the blue hit maybe a mile away last year. It was amazing how loud it was. I forget how much stronger it is than regular lightening. 100 times??
I really did think something blew up (no storms, etc. in the area).
Funny - we don’t get much lightening and thunder around here, so any time a regular thunderstorm comes through there are folks that get on “Nextdoor” app and say “Hey - did anybody hear that explosion!?”
YES!!
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