I was struck by lightning yesterday—and boy am I sore
I've been nearly struck several times. I love lightning, and apparently it loves me right back. And wants to touch me.<p>What I have learned is this:<p>1. You will almost never get warning before lightning strikes. Only once did I get the hair-on-end. Every other time, no warning whatsoever before discharge. However, as is obvious, highly active cloud-to-cloud lightning indicates an extremely active cell, with extreme danger.<p>2. Lightning can reach a /long/ way to get you. The closest call I ever had, the storm was 15 miles away. I was standing outside watching it and it struck 2 feet away from me. It wasn't a stringer either - it was a full discharge and sent me flying (more through my own surprise than physical force).<p>3. If you can hear thunder, you can get struck quite easily.<p>4. A few drops of rain increase the chances of being struck by several orders of magnitude. The atmosphere is far more conductive and therefor danger skyrockets.<p>5. Lightning will strike the most out-of-way/odd places. I've watched it blitz trees in a deep valley over and over again without hitting the peaks once. There is no predicting what is likely to get struck.<p>6. In an instable environment, any cloud that is rising rapidly is extremely suspect. I once was watching a storm that was cranking away about 10 miles off. A small cumulus tower went up next to me, but didn't look like much. 30 seconds later it discharged only about 1/4 mile away.<p>7. Some wikipedia entries and other sources state lightning is uncommon over water and the open ocean. This is completely untrue - there is a lot of it. If you are boating and see a squall, be prepared to book it out of there as a boat is a highly dangerous place to be during a storm.<p>8. A fantastic shot of the close-range effects of lightning is 00:01:15 into this video: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7K3m2zHEhs" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7K3m2zHEhs</a><p>What you'll notice about that shot is the effect it has and how very clear it is, along with how quiet it is at close range. The sparks off the metal roof, the movement of the actual channel, even the rate at which it discharges is apparent. Probably one of the best shots so far (though I welcome others!)<p>Stay safe.