News DetailIncredible lightning video!
Posted At: April 14, 2008 @ 2:04 PM
Posted By: Reed Timmer
Related Categories: General
Check out this video of a near-miss lightning strike in Norman, OK from last summer, courtesy of Curtis McDonald, Matt Chat, Daniel Betten, and Matt Van Every. The main lightning channel and associated streamers can clearly be seen at the end of the video. Early next week looks like the apocalypse.
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Holy crap haha. That's awesome!! I've had lightning hit close before, but not THAT close.
what did it hit a tree ? to me it looked very close to road
holy crap thats close! yet very cool
Near-miss? I think you mean near-hit...
Near-miss would insist you want the people to be hit lol.
That was an amazind video however. I would have had to change my pants after that.
I've had that 3 times in my life. Once when i was little.
And in 2006 had two within 50 feet in the same storm.
Pretty sweet vid. What is the temperature of a lightning bolt? And can a bolt of lightning turn sand into glass?
That is hilarious!
Lightning can turn sand into glass. they call it a fulgurite, a big hunk of glass
Holy crap!! That was a close one;)
Hey Danny.
It is said that lightning can be as much as 10 times hotter than the sun. And it is also true that lightning can turn sand into glass.
I think I saw an episode of X-Files and Mulder shows Scully some chunk of glass from the sand and says that lightning couldn't do that. That is why I ask. I was like I'm not so sure...now I have lost some favor with Mulder lol.
Yeah I've seen that. One day in a thunderstorm we had 40 MPH winds. after the storm passed a huge lighning bolt struck behind an apartment down the street. The next day I looked were it struck. It struck a tree. I tryed to take a picture of the lighning but I was to slow :(
Just goes to show you. If you have to tell your buddy on the radio "I'm probably going to kill myself" about something.. you probably shouldn't be doing it ahahaha.
yeah it does look like the appocolypse next week- and theres a chance im going to be right in it- cause we are leaving for california to visit my grandparents on monday all i have to say well to quote reed "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" we'll prolly have to leave around 5 or 6 in the morning or earlier so we don't get caught in it- but in any case if i see anything i'll try let y'all know and i'll probably pick out a dissposable camera in case
Crap! I'd be running towards the nearest rest-room about that time. lol. Just kidding, seriously, that was awesome. I want to see sand turned into glass by a lightning bolt too...
And I'm agreeing with you guys on the apocalyptic set-up for early next week... I'll bet a fair sum that it changes, and the high pressure stays over KS/NB for awhile longer... we shall see I guess.
The lightning strike actually hit the tree right behind the garage between me and the road.
That was insane!!! I have had a few close calls myself. Never caught on video though..
atleast it was a tree not someones car or house
Could you feel the charge building up on your skin? It's kind of cool to see the emp wave affect the video.
i wounder if a camcorder or digi cam will attract a lightning strike anyone know ?
Intense!
Anything can be struck by lightning and if you and your camera seem like the path of least resistance for that lightning bolt, good luck. I have caught on video a few feeder bolts coming off nearby objects around me before during lightning storms. I have not had too many close stirkes, atleast when the camera is on (knock on wood).
Curtis, I guess I'm kind of asking the same question as sammo above. Did you get any kind of warning, like a noise or shock or anything?
I had one just as close about 8 or 9 years ago and I got a small shock because I was leaning against an aluminum window frame and also a loud ringing a split second before it hit.
Its that event that actually what got me interested in this stuff.
Does that seem a little crazy? hehe
In some (probably all) cases a lightning strike is foreshadowed by an intense electric field, which causes ones hair to stand on end. There is a famous photo of a girl at a grand canyon lookout with her long hair all spread out like a fan. Seconds after the photo was taken the platform was hit by lightning.
Anyone ever experience this? Note if you are inside a car or house it wouldn't likely occur, as the car/house would act like a faraday cage and shield you from the field.
Strike- We (my roomate and I) felt our hairs rise on the back of our necks basically the same time we heard the thunder, and saw the strike. The seconds after the strike our hair (back of our necks) and small ones on our arms stood on end until we frantically ran inside.
That was incredibly cool. I would definitely be changing my pants!!!LOL!!!!!!YIKES!!!!
Q: you get stuck out In a severe lightning storm, and no cover or low lying areas are around how do you survive a strike?
A: your I pod LOL, There was a case when someone was hit and survived because the lightning took the headphone wire instead of his body. He had burn down his face and chest where the wire was
The bad side is that thr I-pod will increace the chace of getting hit, but will also incrace chance of survivig without the "post lightning strike syndrome"
LOL that was close! Great vid guys. Never seen anything like that in my life.
Hi. I enjoy reading your blog. I'm a coworker of your friend Brian. He got me into reading it. I enjoy your postings. Keep up the good work. Awesome shot of the lightning by the way. But seriously, what is the apcalyptic weather and setup you are talking about? Are we talking flooding rains? Tornados? What? Please do tell.
wow! That reminds me something... Four years ago, I was in the living with my ex-boyfriend when a lightning hits the house behind ours... less than one second before it hits, we felt prickle on the members, what made ruffle up our hairs. Then, there was a strange smell and the lightning strike. Result of that: power outtage and the building hit by the lightning burned down...
It's interesting that the effect still happens inside a house. Probably the house is a very poor faraday cage since houses are generally wood (I thought perhaps there'd be enough wire in the walls to constitute a cage - but the comments here prove otherwise!)
What was the strange smell Caro, can you describe it?
Curtis - The fact that your hairs continued to stand on end after the close strike indicated the space around you was still under electrical stress (potential for another strike to occur soon) - so going inside was a good idea!
Just thought I'd mention that it's possible to measure the electrical field in the space around you with an instrument. Scientists use this to predict when lightning is about to strike - whereapon they fire a rocket trailing a wire into the cloud to trigger an actual strike. You've probably seen it on TV before.
Whether it's feasible to set up a similar instrument on a rooftop or car roof im not sure - I can't remember if the scientists I mentioned needed the instrument to be elevated or not.
it is kinda a myth that an object such as a camcorder would attract a lightning bolt...there are a lot taller, larger and more conducive objects usually around...anyone ever read up about sprites and the crazy lightning phenomenons like that? theres some crazy things out there!!!
To smudge: It's so far... hum... As far as I can remember, it smelt like heated metal... a metallic odor... something like that.
WOW! did your hair stand up on your arms and head?
what i think crystal there talkin about the setup is basically from new models shows looks like chance of sevear weather and proubly storm chasing
That's why we have Joel!
I've decided that no one needs to try to get lightning on video anymore, because if they get anything better and/or closer than that, they'll probably die.
This is better than the close-up lightning video that was on the YouTube awards, but you probably already know that.
It doesn't look that impressive for next week...boo!!!!!! The word apocalyptic should be changed to 'ever so slight risk'. There may be a lot of rain for the Southern Prairies....
It doesn't look that impressive for next week...boo!!!!!! The word apocalyptic should be changed to 'ever so slight risk'. There may be a lot of rain for the Southern Prairies....
Temp 67...wind out of the south at 12...pants totally full!!...ive had two of those in my life...one hit a light poll about 150 yds away from my house at 2am while i was in the kitchen getting a drink...and the other while driving home from a chase...btw when a FM radio station starts to crackle you know your a target, but lucky for me it hit the telephone poll right next to me...i had to check to see if my pants were full :)
Huh .. awesome.
To Cathy: My hairs stand up on my arms but I don't remember if it does on my head...
We felt what I said, we saw a flash then we heard a big boom and all this happens in less than a second! It was very special...
One time, when I was younger, A lightning strike just in front of my house. I was standing by the window, looking at the sky and anjoying the show but my hands where on the window's border which is in metal (alluminium??) I felt a small electric shock, as sparks... :-) my mother had always told me to hold me far from windows during a thunderstorm... hahaha I have never listened to her!
I can recall being out on Lake Erie one day with several friends when a large, threatening bank of clouds began to approach. Several dozen strands from one girl's head began to stand on end, and when she sat down in the boat, the other girl's hair began to go up.
We left. Promptly.
Never saw any lightening from that little storm, but all the warning signs were there!
holy crap now that iv seen this video omg i would like most people gone to the bathroom that video is amazing. amazing video. but if anything from inside the house
wat i ment to say is should have video taped from in house and mabey camra taped to window so dont need to be near it
I think i know why the big setup is forecast.
The cold air is via a very strong and extremely rare spring blizzard on the Canadian prairies.
As far as I know record cold is expected by the weekend, and five days of snow and at times very strong winds, hence blizzard.
I did some browsing in the weather records and found no late April cold even close to this in the past 25 years.
Lows are forecast to get as low as -13C or lower and records are around -11C
As for filming storms just put it on a tripod under a porch and hit record(strap it to the railing if it is too windy).
And take stills using a WIRELESS remote shutter.
That way you are 100% safe, just make sure you have the space on your, tape, DVD, HDD, SD card for the whole storm. Yea like you'll get hit right as you change the tape
Crystal are you talking about what conditions are right for a tornado to form or what kind of condistions are right forr tornadoes next week. Honistly I think it will be a bust because right now it is only a "SEE TEXT" and plus all the other systems have'nt done much.
Can we not hype this one up? I can't take being deflated again. The forecasts a week out don't seem to be accurate at predicting the magnitude of outbreaks - only if they will occur to some degree or not.
Hype is our middle name!!!!
If it weren't for hype, the 3-day drives to Canada would be tough!
I am pretty sure Reed forgot an "r" on the end of that aforementioned middle name. - Insert additional clever words of your choosing here. -
Oh yeah, and I just showed my husband the lightning video, and he walked away shaking his head and exclaiming "my goodness" ... I am pretty sure this would scare my dog, so I do not plan to allow him to see it. :)
i dont think there is too much hype involved with this...you know we are at that at that time of year where we will get our best so plains systems of the year coming through in the next month!!!
There has been some changes in the potential outbreak for early next week, but Monday and Tuesday still look like definite chase days. Some of the better we have seen this year. There is still plenty of time for them to go down the toilet though. That 2% tornado threat for only 2 counties in NW OK looks real nice for today.... haha, I need a good tornado and I am getting desperate.
looks like a slight risk for a small part southern Nebraska tonight and maybe tomorrow, but nothing really serious...
Slight risk today tornado thret limited here is the CAPE
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/frames.php?sector=5