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Lighting Strike (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 20:39:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: gweaver <gweaver-at-earthlink-dot-net>
To: Tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Lighting Strike
We have been having lots of thunder storms and tornadoes around here.
Today after work a thunder storm moving NE was approaching and passed
by just north of my house. I timed several of the distant lighting
strikes 4 and 5 seconds each which makes them about 3/4 to 1 mile away.
We were having no rain and not much wind either. I planted a tiny tree
in the back yard and was walking down the drive way towards the house
when I suddenly felt an electrical tingle on the upper part of my body,
my hair and right arm. I was carring a shovel in my right hand and an
empty 5 gallon plastic bucket in my left hand. There was a 35 to 40
foot tall Ash tree to my right about 12 to 15 feet away. The house was
about 15 to 18 feet straight ahead. I instantly dropped the shovel and
bucket and ran for the house. As I ran under the Eves of the roof
there was a bright lighting flash and an instant explosion of thunder
that sounded like several sticks of dynamite exploding. I did not see
where the lighting struck but it was very close. It may have struck
the Ash tree but I could see no signs of that when I later inspected
the tree. It could have struck the aluminum gutter on the house 4 feet
over my head. I don't know?
I suppose we have all felt this electrical feeling because we all have
a Tesla Coil. You know how it feels to stand about a foot or so out of
strike range of your TC and it makes the hair on your body stand up a
little and it makes your skin tingle a little too. Thats how it felt
to me in the drive way just before the lighting strike. I instantly
knew what was about to happen and didn't waste 1/10 of a second getting
out of there.
Gary Weaver