Ahh, Lightning!!, I like to sit back and enjoy the light show, and be thankful for it!!Lightning forces nitrogen and oxygen to combine with the water of the rain and carries the nitrogen down into the soil. This causes natural nitrogen fertilizer which is used by plants. big lightning storm may provide as much as 3 pounds of nitrogen per acre. I Do; however, UNPLUG my Modem during a lightning storm!!ever SEE a modem SMOKED from a lightning strike?? I have

I haven't seen a lightning smoked modem but I have seen a vaporized power strip, exploded antenna rotor control box and motor, scorched stainless steel outlet cover, and fried electrical wiring. About a foot and a half of our cable wire was vaporized. And the lightning didn't even hit our house! It struck the neighbors tree, travelled through the ground, and up into our wiring. If our lines hadn't been properly grounded we would have had less damage. The bolt even traveled through a birdhouse hanging on the tree and killed a nestful of baby starlings.

Even with all that, I love watching a good lightning storm as long as it is faaaar away. When I lived in farm country we would sit on the porch watching the lightning storms until they got close and Grandma chased us all inside.

I do love watching a good lightning show. It's wide open to our west, so we can see them coming. We'd turn the truck around to face west and sit inside and watch it pass over. I'd still like to find a set of speakers that can put out bass notes like thunder does.
Although we haven't been struck or had any close calls here, I do recall a day years back when I worked at a sawmill, and the power line that fed it was hit. There were 2 of us outside working the chain where finished lumber was stacked. We didn't even see the storm coming in. Our first indication of the storms arrival was suddenly feeling all the hair on the back of our necks stand up. Less than 2 seconds later, the power line, which we worked under was hit. The 2 of us weren't touched, but half the people in the building were knocked flat. Blown fuses and fried motors everywhere. It was an all electric mill. It's an experience I'll remember. We still watch the storms, just not from an exposed position.
Rick

I have heard that about your hair standing on end.

If you are out in a open area and feel that you are supposed to get down in a ball as fast as you can.

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Apples,
You can get thunder and lightning in the winter. You never heard of thundersnow? I've seen it twice, both times here. Once was earlier this winter, during a nasty snowstorm. The other time was many years ago. I was walking thru an open field on the way to work. With everything being white, it's blinding. Scared the heck out of me. At that time, I didn't know such a thing was even possible.
It doesn't happen often, but it's awesome when it does. Trouble is the weather that comes with it really stinks.
Rick

I'm posting this observation here because "Nature Stuff" seems like the proper title, but it doesn't have anything to do with lightning. It has to do with squirrels, those lovely little creatures that dig up my flowers bulbs, attack my bird feeders, and go thump on my roof in their never-ending quest to get in my attic. Has anyone else noticed a lot more black squirrels around this year? In the past, I would see a black squirrel maybe once every other year or so. But so far this spring, I've seen at least three different ones in various neighborhoods around town. I live just outside of Boston and am curious to know if this is just a local thing. If anyone would notice stuff like this, it would have to be gardeners. Tony.

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Tony from Massachusetts

My Lightening Story

by jillie

Years ago, I took my Mom back to Chillicothe, Ohio, for her 50th high school reunion. It was in July, hot weather; beautiful.

We arrived two days before the reunion, so I got a chance to spend a whole day lounging at the hotel pool with a good book before helping get Mom gussied-up for the event.

It sorta clouded over that July day....I looked up from my book to the west and saw BIG, flat-bottomed clouds 'way off in the distance... just prior to hearing a long, low rumble. OOOH, OOOH, thunder... Love it! I watched those clouds come closer at a pretty fast clip...the rumbling becoming more frequent....wind starting to blow a bit....Gosh, I grew up in Calif...this was soooo fascinating....watching a Summer storm approach..Lightening in the distance hitting the ground.....Wooo.

Breaking my train of thought was this incessant tapping .. TAPPING

I looked behind me, and there was my Mom...inside her room, tapping on the sliding door and gesturing frantically with her hand for me to GET INSIDE!


What had escaped my notice was:

1. The 50 or so people who had been in and around the pool were gone. I was alone.

2. Both the table and the umbrella under which I was reading my book were made of metal.

3. The storm had picked up speed and was coming toward the hotel at an alarming rate.



I was younger then, and could move PRETTY fast...

out the gate and up the stairs to my room...opening my curtains to look out... just as the lightening hit the wrought-iron fence around the pool... BANG!, BANG! BANG!....deafening!!! ....and arc to the umbrella under which I'd been sitting.

Did I have to listen to my MOTHER for the next hour or so about the potential consequences of my folly????? Bet-chur-bootie

The end

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I have been in a winter sonw thunerstorm 4 times 2x in Chicago and 2x in Indianapolis.

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