Lightning is cool

[Cmaier]

One of the Luckiest Lightning Strikes Ever Recorded

Brazilian researchers captured on camera the brief moment when lightning rods on buildings released an upward discharge to attract incoming lightning.

www.nytimes.com

 

[theorist9]

Yeah, was just reading that. The published paper has good measuments of the speeds of the strokes. Those they measured vary over a 10-fold range, with the fastest clocking in at 229 miles/s...fast enough to reach the moon in 18 minutes. What struck me (no pun intended) is that the strokes have constant speeds:

SOURCE: Saba, Marcelo MF, Diego Rhamon R. da Silva, John G. Pantuso, and Caitano L. da Silva. "Close view of the lightning attachment process unveils the streamer zone fine structure." Geophysical Research Letters 49, no. 24 (2022): e2022GL101482. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022GL101482

 

[AG_PhamD]

Nice.

I’ve had two interesting experiences with lightening

1) ~2011 I had an apartment that had a view of Boston’s Prudential Tower (I believe including the antenna on top the tallest structure in Boston, otherwise the second tallest skyscraper here). During a massive thunderstorm lightening hit the Pru right at the top of the antenna. It was quite a spectacle.

2) A couple years ago I was on my covered deck watching a passing thunderstorm. All of a sudden, a giant bolt of lightening came down and struck one of the AC units on the roof of the building behind mine- probably about 10 yards away horizontally and 20ft below where I was standing. I instinctively threw myself backwards, though I was already standing 2ft away from the wall. It was absolutely terrifying and honestly one of the scariest moments of my life.

 

[Eric]

This was from a year or two ago from a hilltop in my local area, we get them from time to time. I've photographed a couple of these now and when a storm gets close I feel pretty vulnerable because I take them from wide open areas. This is one of the best photos I've ever taken IMO, the local news ran it for several days. It requires a lot of luck and several attempts.

 

[theorist9]

This was from a year or two ago from a hilltop in my local area, we get them from time to time. I've photographed a couple of these now and when a storm gets close I feel pretty vulnerable because I take them from wide open areas. This is one of the best photos I've ever taken IMO, the local news ran it for several days. It requires a lot of luck and several attempts.

View attachment 22781

That really is a superb shot. I'm guessing the procedure is to put the camera on a tripod and automate it to take repeated shots, where each shot has the lens open for x seconds in the hope that lightning will strike during that time. If so, what value of "x" did you use?

 

[Roller]

This was from a year or two ago from a hilltop in my local area, we get them from time to time. I've photographed a couple of these now and when a storm gets close I feel pretty vulnerable because I take them from wide open areas. This is one of the best photos I've ever taken IMO, the local news ran it for several days. It requires a lot of luck and several attempts.

View attachment 22781

Wonderful shot, though you’re putting yourself at serious risk if you’re in the open, especially on a hill.

My closest encounter with lightning happened when I was camping. We were in a tent when we saw a brilliant flash, followed immediately by a loud boom and cracking sound. When we looked around, a tree close by was split and still smoking.

I read a recent article about successful attempts to use lasers as lightning rods to direct strikes away from vital areas.