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50-year-old pastor from a church here in San Antonio was killed Tuesday afternoon after he was hit by a bolt of lightning while hiking with his two teenage sons, authorities told News 4 WOAI. The man and his two sons were hiking in the Lost Maples State Natural Area near Vanderpool close to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. It started raining and the family went to seek cover under a cedar tree, Bandera County Sheriff Don Berger said. The father was then hit by lightning and died instantly, officials said. The park is located about 65 miles northwest of San Antonio. Members...

FRESNO, Calif - Crews hoping for wet weather to help combat lightning-sparked wildfires in California faced a new threat Wednesday: too much rain. Flash flood warnings were posted for much of the eastern Sierra Nevada on Wednesday as the National Weather Service predicted a 40 percent chance of rain over a cluster of wildfires in Plumas National Forest. Fire officials worried that crews battling a 22,000-acre blaze about 125 miles northeast of Sacramento could face mudslides on burned-over slopes. That blaze was only about 20 percent contained late Tuesday, after afternoon lightning sparked some new spot fires on the parched...

With no rain or even clouds to warn him of the danger, death came literally out of the blue Thursday to a self-employed landscaper. The killer was a powerful bolt of lightning that cracked through perfectly clear skies. David Canales, 41, of West Miami-Dade, was on the job at a Pinecrest home when the bolt hit. It first seared a tree, then traveled and struck Canales, standing nearby. Experts said Canales was killed by a weather phenomenon fittingly called a ''bolt from the blue'' or ''dry lightning'' because it falls from clear, blue skies.

A Dade landscaper died after being struck by an unusual type of lightning that's stronger, hotter, lasts longer and strikes from clear skies. By TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE AND LUISA YANEZ With no rain or even clouds to warn him of the danger, death came literally out of the blue Thursday to a self-employed landscaper. The killer was a powerful bolt of lightning that cracked through perfectly clear skies. David Canales, 41, of West Miami-Dade, was on the job at a Pinecrest home when the bolt hit. It first seared a tree, then traveled and struck Canales, standing nearby. Experts said...

Manchester, New Hampshire - Was it a sign from above? Lightning zapped remarks by Republican presidential contender and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani during a debate Tuesday night, just as he began defending his pro-choice stand on abortion rights against criticism by a Roman Catholic bishop. 'I guess I'm here by myself,' Giuliani quipped after a loud buzz momentarily interrupted the sound system. He turned around, then looked skyward as the audience broke out laughing. 'For someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that's happening right now,' he said. Debate host...

Like a molten thread of white heat, lightning cuts across the grey skies above midtown Manhattan to find the top of the Empire State Building. The storm yesterday afternoon was part of the latest blast of bad weather to hit New York. The murky skies and lightning, seen from across the East River in this dramatic picture, were accompaniedby 72mph winds and a deluge which saw an inch of rain fall in nearby Central Park. There was no damage to the 1,454ft Empire State Building. The lightning rod at its very top absorbs such strikes around 100 times a year....

Close window Published online: 11 May 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070508-12 Lightning spurs hurricanesLink shows storms in Africa can cause havoc in the United States.What creates an Atlantic hurricane? The most devastating ones are spurred by intense thunderstorms in the Ethiopian highlands, according to new research. The link between lightning strikes and hurricane formation should give researchers a heads-up about when a nasty hurricane might form, weeks before it could make landfall in the United States, says Colin Price of Tel Aviv University in Israel. Today, scientists apply various models to predict storm tracks and strength, but only once they form...

Stroke of Good Fortune: A wealth of data from petrified lightning Sid Perkins The lumps of glass created when lightning strikes sandy ground can preserve information about ancient climate, new research indicates. BOLT FROM THE BLUE. When lightning strikes the ground, it fuses sand in the soil into tubular masses of glass called fulgurites (top). The gases trapped in bubbles in that glass (bottom) yield clues to ancient soil and atmospheric chemistry and climate. L. Carion/Carion Minerals, Paris; Navarro-González Worldwide, lightning flashes occur about 65 times per second. Each bolt releases as much energy as is stored in a quarter-ton...

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 15, 2006 – The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II lifted into the skies today for the first time, completing a successful inaugural flight and initiating the most comprehensive flight test program in military aviation history. “The Lightning II performed beautifully,” said F-35 Chief Pilot Jon Beesley following the flight. “What a great start for the flight-test program, and a testimony to the people who have worked so hard to make this happen.” The most powerful engine ever placed in a fighter aircraft – the Pratt & Whitney F135 turbofan, with 40,000 pounds of thrust...

First Flight of the F-35 occured at takeoff 12:45 CDT from Fort Worth Texas and the Joint Reserve Naval Air Station.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Nearly a year after the disaster, state investigators have concluded that the Sago Mine explosion that left 12 miners dead was caused by a lightning bolt that ignited methane gas underground, a union official said. The mine's owner, International Coal Group Inc., has argued since March that lightning was to blame for the Jan. 2 blast, a theory critics of the company have disputed. The report is to be released Monday, but United Mine Workers officials who helped in the investigation have been briefed on it, Dennis O'Dell, the union's health and safety director, said Wednesday. [Snip]...

Fulgurites! The second is the world record holder.

Photo #1. BANG!!! Huge bolt of lightning strikes near the control tower and a taxiing C-130 Hercules at Balad Air Base, Iraq, on 16 May 2006. Image ID: 060516-F-0185C-001Photographer: Senior Airman James Croxon, United States Air Force (USAF) Big image link: http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/060516-F-0185C-001.jpgCourtesies: http://www.af.mil/news/story_media.asp?storyID=123020502 (source), http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20061026.htm (above image), http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/bifurcated/rivets/77#oct282006 ("Bang") Photo #2. And a few seconds later...BANG!!! Yet another way-too-massive lightning bolt hits near the control tower and a taxiing C-130 Hercules at Balad Air Base, Iraq, on 16 May 2006. Image ID: 060516-F-0185C-005Photographer: Senior Airman James Croxon, United States Air ForceBig image link: http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/060516-F-0185C-005.jpgCourtesies: http://www.af.mil/news/story_media.asp?storyID=123020502 (source), http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20061026.htm (above image),...

See for example this thread first. A woman who was struck by lightning At home! Now that's kinda frightening Struck her in the mouth And departed "down south" Now she's burned on her buns; and teeth whitening?

A WOMAN has suffered severe burning to her anus after being struck by lightning which hit her in the mouth and passed right through her body. Natasha Timarovic, 27, was cleaning her teeth at home when lightning struck the building. She said: "I had just put my mouth under the tap to rinse away the toothpaste when the lightning must have struck the building. I don't remember much after that, but I was later told that the lightning had travelled down the water pipe and struck me on the mouth, passing through my body. It was incredibly painful, I felt...

Nothing on the planet can see the F-22, much less outfight it. But when the F-35 comes online, the two will literally dominate the skies. The F-35 will be able to see virtually hundreds of airplanes at distances far exceeding the scope of previous fighter systems. Tracking distances are classified, but the new aircraft's sight range is said to be twice that of existing fighters (about 40 miles in every direction for existing aircraft).

Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commanding general, 25th Infantry Division, greets the Iraqi Army division commanders for the first time as he takes charge of Multi-National Division - North at Contingency Operating Base Speicher. Department of Defense photo by Army Spc. Michael Pfaff, 133rd MPAD. TIKRIT --Following a year marked by noteworthy successes in growing the size and capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, rebuilding Iraq and providing security for a vast region of the country, the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division on Wednesday transferred control of Multi-National Division North to the Army’s 25th Infantry Division. “Our mission here is...

Tropic Lightning Puts on the ‘Groove’ Concert gives soldiers a break from the war. By Spc. Mike Alberts 3rd Brigade Public Affairs CAMP BEUHRING, Kuwait, Aug. 29, 2006 — For a moment, soldiers were anywhere but in the desert. There was no wind, sand, heat or war. In their minds, soldiers were transported by the power of music to more familiar places. For a moment, soldiers got their “groove” on. “V.C. Groove,” a 76th Army Band ensemble, performed live for Tropic Lightning soldiers and others at the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation stage here at Camp Beuhring, Kuwait, Aug. 3....

170 die (45 kids) as Russian plane is struck by lightning Tom Parfitt in Moscow Wednesday August 23, 2006 The Guardian A Russian airliner that crashed in eastern Ukraine yesterday killing all 170 passengers and crew on board was probably struck by lightning as it encountered heavy turbulence, a preliminary investigation suggested last night. The Tu-154 was flying from the Black Sea resort of Anapa to St Petersburg when it went down in open countryside about 30 miles north of the city of Donetsk. More than a quarter of the aircraft's passengers were children. Russia's transport ministry said bad weather...

These days, it seems, you need a college degree just to live in or around New York City. Almost 5 million people over the age of 25 in the New York metropolitan area — more than a third of the region’s population — had at least a bachelor’s degree in 2005, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau. In Manhattan, nearly three out of five residents were college graduates and one out of four had advanced degrees, forming one of the highest concentrations of highly educated people in any American city. The degree-holders are rapidly displacing the dropouts,...