You've been very lucky . . . here's what lightning can do . . .
{{gwi:351460}}
Giant Sequoia, 2.5m trunk diameter, was 30m tall, now 4m tall. Some pieces landed over 300m away.

Resin

Here is a link that might be useful: More details & pics

What a shame to lose such a tree. And such power.

Thanks

Hello,
Minor cases of lightning strikes do seem fairly common.If you ever have a chance to see a photo of what some describe as spider lightning you see the main bolt and 10-20 or more lesser veins coming off the main bolt.Surely these hit something once in a while.I had one white pine hit but not bad some of the lower bark about 10 inches was damaged slightly,but at the base a good size chunk of earth was thrown out five feet away.Another time In a wooded peice of my property a elm tree was hit,the whole side a foot wide and forty feet high was in splinters.Needless to say that tree was dead.I also felt the shock of lightning 3 times,not very strong but enough to make you jump,much like touch ing an electric fence.
Now the pic of the sequoia,I would say a direct hit.WOW!It is amazing the power mother nature can release.

lp

Terry:

Have I got lightning stories!

Here are just four:

1. in the back of my timberland in far western MD there is an area of huge boulders--some the size of railroad freight cars. Among these rocks are growing some very old trees--trees that the loggers in the 1930's couldn't get to because of the rocks. Most of these trees are ancient hemlocks, some growing on top of the rocks with the roots growing over them to the ground/soil between. One hemlock was especially magnificent--it must have been 500 years old and possibly much more. One day it was hit by lightning and the whole thing literally exploded into bits. I am not kidding, nothing was left. Bits of trunk and the branches were scattered far and wide.

2. I had another hemlock growing on a fairly rich site--very, very big and with a perfect conical shape, like a young tree. But it was about 7 feet in diameter. Nothing had ever bothered it before. Then two consecutive years it was hit. The first strike took a huge strip out of one side, the second killed it. But it didn't explode like the first one I describe above.

In another area, on the top of a broad hill I had a grove of hemlocks--nice tall graceful trees, maybe 85 feet tall and two feet in diameter. One was hit and more or less completely split open, but not "exploded" like the first one I describe above. But 5 or 6 trees around this tree died also, but seemed untouched.

4. When we moved to a place 15 miles north of Winchester in 2002, we had a house built. We moved in in April, then in July we had the most amazing thunderstorm I have ever seen--it would take me several pages to describe how this storm developed and all the aspects of it. I have been an avid storm watcher all my life, and I am now 70, but this storm was something I had never even imagined could happen. To make a long story short, the storm had at least 10 times the lightning intensity of any storm I had ever seen before. It seemed that there were a dozen strikes directly overhead--you know the kind that give a buzzing sound before the thunder crash. It was like we were under the worst howitzer barrage of WW II. Then there was another strike directly overhead and all we heard and saw was chunks of brick masonry tumbling down from the roof, crashing down onto our porch roof, busting through, crashing into and destroying our flagstone walk, etc. etc. In short our chimney was hit and blown to bits. We were lucky the force hit just the chimney and did not start a fire, but during that storm we may actually have been hit three times, based on the fact that there were three separate areas in the house that did not seem connected to each other where the wiring, wall sockets, appliances, TV, etc. etc. were destroyed. We had an electrician spend several hours tracking down all the damage, and we had to replace several appliances.

We are up on a bit of a hill, so guess what? We had a very good lightning protection system installed--9 air terminals and hree ground posts 10 feet down into the ground. I have always enjoyed thunderstorms before--I still do. And now my wife, although still uneasy, doesnt really worry too much any more. I recommend everyone get this done. We were lucky and found a real expert--he did the work at Mt. Vernon and many other historical sites.

--Spruce

Interesting stories and that photo of the blasted sequoia is amazing.

I just had a metal roof installed over my old shingle roof.

Does anybody know if this would automatically make my home more susceptible to lightning strikes?

The roofers told me that lightning striking a home hardly ever happens. They did tell me that a lightning system could be installed, but told me no one ever buys it.

Adding a metal roof wouldn't substantially change how likely your house was to get struck by lightening. Factors like relative elevation, soil moisture around your house, and maybe even your luck would make much more difference.

Gary:

I don't know how often lightning strikes houses, but it is not that rare. I heard one report that a house less than a mile away was hit in the same 2002 storm that hit ours, and that strike started a fire. Since 2002 I have read at least two or three other reports in the local paper of lightning striking houses and starting fires. If there is no fire, such a strike doesn't make the news. Our house being hit didn't make the newspaper. As a percentage of all houses, I would guess the number of strikes is pretty small. But the cost of a protection system like ours is not that high--I can't remember what we paid--maybe $1,200 or something. The man, who moved like a cat all over our roof (a bit steeper than a 12-12), did the job in a little over 2 hours, and the materials can't be that expensive, although there was a lot of copper involved, which has risen substantially in price. Anyway, we now have peace of mind, and some reduced rate on our home insurance.

Anyway, we had to pay a lot to have our chimney rebuilt, had to pay a bundle for the destroyed appliances, and the general electrical repairs were not cheap either. Fortunately, our homeowners insurance covered much of the costs, but we went through a mess of trouble in the whole episode. Now we know it won't happen again. Ben Franklin is one of my heroes for a whole bunch of reasons, and his discoveries about lightning and his invention of the lightning rod is one.

--Spruce

Terry, lightning seems to be much worse on the Coast than it is in inland MS, at least it's not nearly as bad here as it was when I lived in Gulfport. My husband's ham radio antennae got struck by lightning in the l970's or 1980's, and it came through a wire and burned a line through the carpet in his radio room, which, thankfully, was on the back side of the house - our house didn't catch on fire. There was a big, thick U-bolt on his tower that was straight (or wavy, actually) after it got hit - 'showed how much heat lightning can generate.
I used to hear that buzz sound that Spruceman mentioned in Gulfport and also a real loud, high-pitched, intense whip-cracking sound during thunderstorms that I don't hear here. I also saw what must have been ball lightning in a thunderstorm one time - sort of exploded on the ground.
I used to like to watch the light show when I lived close to the beach, and there was a thunderstorm in the Gulf - quite a show!
Sherry

When I was just a wee lad, going to Catholic grade school, a storm occurred that produced what is still for me, the loudest, sharpest crack of thunder I've ever witnessed. It struck the chimney on the nuns' convent right next to the school. Many children rose off their seats when that hit! The chimney was obliterated.

+oM

That Geneva Sequoiadendron, they say was 40 cubic metres of wood - green wood weighs about a tonne per cubic metre, so that's 40 tonnes weight. Must've been one helluva big bang.

I've seen a Sequoiadendron case myself up here strikingly similar to that one in Geneva - just a big stump, 3 or 4 metres high and 2 metres thick, the rest, gone. Pity I didn't have a camera with me at the time. It had happened a year or two earlier so most had been cleared away, but I found a bit of wood, about 5 metres long, 30cm wide, and 15cm thick, lying 50 metres away among some young trees. Far too heavy for me to lift.

Brought home to me what they always say about not standing under trees in a thunderstorm.

"Ben Franklin is one of my heroes for a whole bunch of reasons, and his discoveries about lightning and his invention of the lightning rod is one"
If I remember my history books right, the next several people who tried to repeat his kite experiment were all electrocuted and killed.

Resin

Benjamin Franklin is my favorite historical figure, too, Resin - was there ever a more versatile and inventive man who didn't take himself or others too seriously? I read a biography about him recently - wonderful!
Sherry

On Ben Franklin--let me digress just a little bit. I have never found one biography or other kind of account of Ben Franklin's life that included all of his inventions/discoveries. Ben Franklin had an incessantly active and creative mind. I won't try to give an account of all his accomplishments, but one thing I learned just recently, is that he is the first person to realize that the typical "nor'easter" storms that often batter the east coast of the U.S. move from south to north. He suspected that it was the case through some kind of observational "instinct," and confirmed it by writing to his friends in cities south and north of Philadelphia and asking about the time that the storms struck. Simple? yes, but also brilliant.

Here is just a sample of his other accomplishments, selected just to give some idea of the incredibly wide ranging mind he had. He made observations of ocean currents on his passages to Europe and was able to make recommendations about the best route. When he was on shipboard, he simply had to keep his mind active, hence his observations. He was also a pioneer in the art of swimming, including the invention of swim fins, he invented a musical instrument that Mozart, of all people, wrote a concerto for. He invented bifocals, the wood stove, was a skilled writer, a very, very successful business man, founded the first lending library, solved some logistical problems of supplying the British troops during the French and Indian War, and it was his diplomacy in France during the revolution that got the very substantial support that played a key role in our war of independence. And this man had virtually no formal education. But back to electricity--he did considerably more work than just determining that lightning was electricity. I have left a lot off this list. An amazing man--he may have had some personal flaws, especially regarding his relations with his wife and son, but for a man with an active and creative mind. Leonardo da Vinci had nothing on Ben. I could argue Ben's mind was more wide-ranging.

--Spruce

Thanks for all the responses.

Sherry and Spruce, I too have watched some wonderful lightning storms. I remember once being on Fountainbleau beach, east of Ocean Springs, no rain where I was, but lighning all over the sky, and constant. It seemed to be going from cloud to cloud, rather than to the ground. It was beautiful. It was overhead and as far as I could see.

And there was a similiar storm last week, but off to the west.

I don't think I've ever heard that buzzing sound. I guess I don't ever want to, either.

Resin, I think I read on this forum that east of the Mississippi river, SE USA, one of the limiting factors on redwood and Sequoia growth, was a tendency for being struck by lightning.

Gary, Tom, Brandon, ... I too worry about a strike on my home. My future home site is a little higher than the surrounding ground. Why wouldn't forty feet of pipe, driven ten feet in the ground, planted say, ten feet from my home, work as a lightning rod? I don't really like the idea of all that metal, all over my house, the way the "systems" use.

.....I also felt the shock of lightning 3 times,not very strong but enough to make you jump ....

Lpptz, you be careful, now.

Terry

Lightning is so very common in our area, but not common enough to be seen by my acquaintances personally. Luckily we have lots of woodland around here, but with the increase of clear-cut cookie-cutter neighborhoods we are seeing more house strikes as they are the tallest thing in the neighborhood. LOL.

1991 US Open at Hazeltine. A thunderstom came up out of nowhere. A man took my mother and I to lie face down in the 16th Fairway. Two loud crashes and then the screaming for help and doctors began. People down on the ground. One of the trees split. One person died if I remember correctly.

What I think I remembered the most, and hadn't heard again until last month, is how unbelievably loud a lightening strike is when you are that close to it. It is indescribable. Driving home in a wicked thunderstorm a tree (Norway maple...yeah!) was struck about 15 feet in front of me on the boulevard. A blue and orange flash on the side of the road. Traffic came to a screeching halt. I screamed and ducked even though I was in my car. I looked up and the wipers were wiping pieces of bark off the windshield. It was a large tree and fortunately it did not come down or it would have landed on the car in front of me.

When lightning struck my husband's antennae, it was at night and we were trying to sleep - unsuccessfully. The thing I remember most was that it didn't sound like thunder and lightning as usual. It sounded like a bomb went off in the yard and there was no thunder afterwards, proving that the length of time it takes for you to hear the thunder is relative to how far away the strike was from you.
And after all that, there wasn't much rain!
Sherry

Spruce- I am curious where you had the lighting protection terminals placed - all 9 on the peak or are some along the gutterline?

We are getting ready to build on the top of a hill- highest spot in miles. There is about 100 foot elevation difference between where we are building our house and the low spot on the property. This is the location of my reforestation project - there are no mature trees on the top of the hill. I'm considering lightning protection as well.

I'm a weather fan too, and have a story or two of my own. When I was a kid, me, my brother, and a friend where standing near the woven metal fence at the property line of our house. The old (and wise) neighbor next door stepped out on his back porch and said we may want to stay away from the metal fence since there was lightning in the distance and coming our way. We just looked at each other and slowly turned and started walking towards our house. Less than a minute later when we were about 1/2 way to the house, lightning struck the exact spot we were standing. No kidding. To this day I think he saved our lives. He is gone now, but I'll never forget that experience.

Also, my cousins had lightning strick their house in a subdivisoin and suffered major damage. They were told if one of their kids beds would have been against the opposite wall, it could have been ugly.

After reading this post, I think I'm sold on lightning protection. Interesting topic- especially for a weather geek like me.

John

John:

You need to have a professional install a lightning protection system. I can describe mine, as far as I understand it, however. The principle seems to be that all high points of the house must be covered, including anything that projects above a 45 degree angled slope from the highest air terminal. On our house there are two air terminals on the chimney, three running along the highest roof line, all connected by heavy woven/braided copper wire--and I mean heavy. Then from this highest roof line, the wire goes down to one on the peak above our front porch roof. Then there is an additional three across the roofline of our three car garage. All thee are connected, and on three "opposite" sides of the house copper clad posts go 10 feet into the ground--I watched them being put down. Now a rock may have deflected them so they may not be completely 10 feet deep, but it looked like they went all they way down without hitches.

OK, seeing the interest in lightning stories, maybe a couple more. This first is one I was told many times, but because I was a baby, I really dont know. But my mother was never one to make up stories or exaggerate--never. When I was a baby I was taking a nap in my crib upstairs. A thunderstorm came up and a bolt of lightning hit a large oak tree outside my window. Shattering a good portion of it. A big sharp pointed chunk of wood came in through the window and imbedded itself in the pillow right next to my head.

A number of years ago I was trading storm stories with my neighbor farmer next to my timberland in western MD. He told me of the most fantastic storm he ever saw. He described it as three storms coming from different directions and converging just overhead. I never really believed his description until I saw the storm I described above that hit our house. That storm, from all appearances seemed to converge from three different directions. But it fact, it formed directly overhead, with the lightning seeming to come from three directions at once. The storm the old farmer told me about was much like the one that hit our house in the intensity of lightning and its destruction of property. Before the rain stated it got almost pitch black, and the rain was so heavy that all of the ground (which is rolling, not flat) was so covered with water that couldnt run off fast enough, that it looked like we were in an ocean. How much rain?? I have no idea--our 5.5 inch rain gauge topped out. But again, it was the lightning--I say, literally, 10 times anything I ever saw before. I am always counting lightning/thunder to see the distance of the bolt. In a good thunderstorm something like 5 or 6 within a mile is a lot. In this storm I was unable to make any reasonable count, there were so many so fast upon each other. I would be surprised if there were less than 50 or 60 within a mile of our house--it could have been much more. I think there were a dozen overhead or within 100 feet. It really felt like an all-out WW II bombardment. It didnt seem like a thunderstorm at all--it was just so overwhelming. I almost always go out on our porch to watch storms. This time I went out near the beginning of the storm, practically had my eardrums burst immediately by two or three loud crashes, and before I took one step onto the porch, turned back into the house.

One more story--a nice one. I am a big fan of music, especially classical music. This was the most musical storm I ever heard. There was a huge severe thunderstorm just to our west. He thunder was constant, but what was so amazing and beautiful was how each roll of thunder lasted for 30 to maybe even 45 seconds or so, with each one overlapping the previous one, or two, or three, or four. Can you get the idea--the grand rolls of thunder actually made a great cosmic 4 and 5 part fugue. Fugues are one of my favorite musical forms. This thunder was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard, and it continued at a peak of richness and beauty for a full 30 minutes or so. I could no nothing but stop and listen--thunderstruck, so to speak.

Well, I have more, but enough for now.

--Spruce