Some very important lightning facts that you may not know

[Motofool]

Copied from:
http://www.aprsfl.net/weather/lightning/

Some very important lightning facts that you may not know...

• If you can see it or hear it, lightning can hit you. Find shelter now.
  
• Lightning is the No. 2 weather killer in the US (behind floods).
  
• Every 5 seconds between flash and boom is a mile's distance from you.
  
• Under ideal conditions, lightning's thunder can be heard 12 miles away.
  
• Lightning is really no wider than a few inches.
  
• All thunderstorms produce lightning.

[Ghostt]

Link to original page on YouTube.

To be honest, I misread the title, I thought it said LIGHTING

[NevadaWolf]

And no, your tires will not insulate you from the ground. Lightning just traveled a considerable distance to reach you, another few inches is not going to stop it.




I was up on a hillside once when a lightning storm rolled through. I was bent over dealing with something on the ground when I saw a flash. I had just enough time to wonder when my Dad got his camera before the thunder cracked. It had struck less than a quarter mile from us.

We threw everything in the truck and split. The bolt had lit a fire just over the hill from us on the road we needed to take to leave. There was a half a moment investigation to see if we could extinguish the blaze but the dry cheat grass was fueling it too fast for us to do anything.

We were crawling down the rocky road just as the fire crews arrived to start heading up. I never want to be that close to a lightning strike ever again!

[Alex]

Scariest part of the IBR for me. Was nearer to several lightning storms than I'd have preferred.

[Ghostt]

Lightning is an awesome power of nature, I live in a very rural area in Kentucky, on the top of a ridge, and lighting gets way too close, when there is absolutely no delay between the flash and thunder, you know it's close, and the flash is not only beautiful, as brutal, but intensely blinding.

I've had strikes as close as 50 yards, probably closer, but I'm not going to measure it, I've seen trees hit, and they exploded, due to the sap inside is boiled instantly and the eminence pressure, it as awesome as it is scary.

Link to original page on YouTube.

[NDspd]

I've been near lightning a couple times, two of the times were within seconds of each other and less than 20-100ft away. I never want that ozone copper taste in my mount again.

[Ghostt]

Amen brother, although I do like the sparkling effect afterwards.

[Singh2jz]

What a coincidence! This just happened today! Last time I saw lightning was like a billion years ago. Twas nice to see it again.


2015-02-28 22.37.38.jpg

[alex.s]

i thought this was interesting. we don't get much lightning out here on the west because of the cold pacific.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by NDspd

I've been near lightning a couple times, two of the times were within seconds of each other and less than 20-100ft away. I never want that ozone copper taste in my mount again.

i've been accidentally electrocuted several times. each time i was left with that odd metalic taste in my mouth and a very cold feeling... such a strange sensation

[Soujyu]

I remember having to get to a remote jobsite from my home back when I only had my parents' car and my 250. That night (2am), my parents' car wouldn't start, and there was a thunderstorm that was moving from my home to the jobsite. I pretty much hopped on my 250, and just kept ahead of the storm system.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by alex.s

i thought this was interesting. we don't get much lightning out here on the west because of the cold pacific.
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Copied from
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/f...the_world.html

"Today, all across America, people will gather on beaches and lawns, in parks and stadiums, to watch a dazzling flash-bang show of fireworks.

In Florida we get a dazzling flash-bang show nearly every day, all summer long. That’s because Florida is the lightning capital of the United States—or, as one of my friends likes to say, “Florida boasts the most lightning-scorched landscape in North America.”

The reasons have to do with both geography and meteorology, not to mention our location between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The result is 90 to 100 days of major thunderstorms across central and southern Florida every year.

A Florida lightning storm can be more awe-inspiring than any mere fireworks display. Thunder clouds fill the sky to the point that you wonder if the apocalypse is nigh. Then multiple bolts start zapping this way and that, one right on top of the other, jagged streaks of blinding brightness followed by a bone-rattling, brain-jolting boom.

The one downside to these displays is that Florida frequently leads the nation in injuries and fatalities from lightning strikes—averaging six deaths and 39 injuries a year over the past decade. So this is the rare Florida outdoor attraction that's best viewed from inside your house or hotel."

Over here during summer, you ride to work in a clear morning and you ride back home under a strong thunderstorm.

The worst situation, short of being hit directly, is when riding at night and it strikes ahead of you, completely blinding you for a few seconds while you are in traffic.

All the commercial buildings close to the interstate road have a lightning protection system that actually attracts the discharges, making riding relatively safe.