Lightening Storms in the High Desert!

[rusty bumper]

I have my PC hooked up to a nice UPS. But before that, we had a power surge that killed my other computer, and we don't seem to get surges that often here in the middle of town.

My home theater setup is connected to a $130.00 Panamax surge suppressor.

Both of these suppressors were mainly bought for the insurance benefit, in case lightning does blow out everything one day.

I have too much invested in my electronics to have to replace it all out of my pocket.

[RamAirV1]

Originally posted by sixty7mustang22
A GOOD surge protector perhaps. We have had a few of those fry in a storm and still not protect the appliance. We haven't really had many of our appliance hit by lightning. It is a rare event. Our TV got hit once pretty good and half the screen was distorted for a week. It finally returned to normal. Lets just say Kramer looked even funnier for that week. We usually just turn most everything off (not unplug) and hope for the best. We are cheap.

I have a surge protector for the entire house. It was installed by the power company and it is guaranteed.

RamAirV1

[Mosca]

I'll never forget living in Indiana and watching and hearing those midwest thunderstorms walk across the plains. You could see and hear the clouds and thunder and lightning for a couple hours before they actually hit. As a storm got closer and closer and it started raining you could see the lightning hitting closer and closer, and then it was RIGHT ON TOP OF YOU, FLASH/BANG! FLASH/BANG! FLASH/BANG! for about ten minutes, and then it was passed and you could watch it walk away to the east. About an hour later you could go out and pick puffballs as big as a volleyball.

Once the neighbor's house was struck and caught fire. The next day he showed me where the lightning had travelled down the lightning rod, through the brick in the chimney (it was melted and bent), and went through all the plumbing (the tiles were charred where it exited in the one bathroom).

Once a mini tornado ripped through a parking lot 200 yards from my house, tossing several cars; I slept through it.

Once I was sleeping in a friend's basement, on a matress on a cement floor. It was about 6AM, and I listened to the storm walk closer, and closer. Then all of a sudden all my hair stood on end, and then the flash filled the room and the BANG! felt like it was inside me! My ears were ringing and my heart was pounding about 200 bpm. My guess is that lightning had struck the house and gone down the lightning rod to ground, skipping me.

Last year here in PA, one of my friends' adult children were outside in their yard on a clear sunny day, and lightning struck and destroyed their house, sending one of them to the hospital with nerve damage and killing two of their dogs. I'll look for the news story...

Here is the free blurb, you'd have to log in to read the rest:

"BLACK CREEK TWP. - A woman struck by lightning that also injured a man and killed two dogs Wednesday afternoon has been discharged from the hospital. A Geisinger Medical Center spokeswoman in Danville said Thursday that Kate Halper had been released. She and Robert Mock were injured and their dogs were killed in a lightning strike Wednesday afternoon, according to Sugarloaf Township police. Police said the two were in their backyard, off Market Street in Weston, at about 4 p.m. The two... Published on May 7, 2004, Page 2A, Times Leader, The (Wilkes Barre, PA)"

Rough stuff, lightning. Not to be messed with, but if it chooses you, oh well, y'know?



Tom

[RamAirV1]

They said on the Weather Channel that lightning can strike on clear sunny days. That has to be rare, but we just read about an example of it happening! And there was probably no way to predict that, and nothing they could have done about it.

RamAirV1

[rusty bumper]

Mosca,

What's a puffball?

I've been to eastern Arkansas to visit relatives before, and they can have some nasty storms out there........Midwestern storms are something else.

[atclew]

Lightning storms are nothing to mess around with, that's for sure. And by reading these posts, it just reassures us of that.

I grew up in Central Florida, on the east coast, and we had the usualy afternoon thunderstorms that you could set your watch by. I also spent 5 years in Central Texas as a military and civilian air traffic controller and watched quite a few strong "supercells" develop, with the threat of tornadoes. Knowing the weather is just apart of my job.

That being said, before I turn this into a dissertation, I'll just cut straight to the chase with some words of caution/advice.

If you can see a thunderstorm anywhere within the horizon, (say 10 miles or less), I would advise that one unplug any electrical devices they do not want fried. Now if the thunderstorm has moved past your location, use common sense.

There are four types of lightning (as documented in aviation weather reports); in-cloud (IC), cloud to cloud (CC), cloud to ground (CG), and cloud to air (CA). What we are concerned about as residents, is cloud to ground (CG), of course. And Cloud to Air lightning (CA). Even if the skies above you are clear, lightning has been known to travel laterally for MILES to find the path of least resistance. (I'm sure some of our engineers in the forum could get into that topic a bit more). So just because there are thunderstorms nearby, but you have "clear, blue and 22" over your home. Don't take mother nature for granted.

Well, I've rambled on enough, thanks to anyone who has read this far!

[rusty bumper]

The windshear has to be a consideration for ATC's & pilots too.

[atclew]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
The windshear has to be a consideration for ATC's & pilots too.

ATC's in the enroute environment are mostly concerned with the turbulence created by the storms, along with the storms themselves. It's no uncommon for flights to deviate from their priginal flight plans 100+ miles off-course to avoid a squall-line of storms.

Good example....

Just two weeks ago, we had a Southwest (SWA) flight coming off of Detroit (DTW) to Chicago Midway (MDW) that normally would receive somewhat direct routing over southern Michigan and north Indiana into MDW. A line of thunderstorms precluded that. The SWA flight deviated all the way up to the Upper Peninsula and sliughtly into Canada before being able to make a turn to the south heading for the Chicago Metropolitan area.

Also if there is a break in a line of thunderstorms, ALOT of aircraft will head for it, sort of like a funnel. They want no part of flying through a thunderstorms, even if only a mile or two wide. And do you blame 'em? Heck no. A lil turbulence puts me to sleep, but I know it makes alot of the flying public nervous. But keep in mind that the wings on commercial aircraft are designed to flex up and down at least a few feet in either direction. The Boeing 777's (Trrple Seven) wings were designed to flex approximately 11 feet in either direction before having to worry about structural integrity.

You are more likely to be hit by lightning, (1 in 6 million chance), than you are to be involved in an aircraft incident, (1 in 7 million). Notice that I said "incident", not "accident".

Sheesh, I've rambled on again.

[rusty bumper]

US Air lost a DC-9 to windshear less than 15 miles from here back in '94 (Charlotte-Douglas Airport).

The pilot tried to land in a thunderstorm, but decided to pull up and bank to the right at the last minute. Windshear pushed the DC-9 into the trees and destroyed the jet.

About 1/2 the passengers were killed if I remember correctly.

**********************************************

Talk about wings flexing.

We were flying from Atlanta to Charlotte and got caught up in the remnants of a hurricane in the middle of the night!

I could see the starboard wing light bouncing up and down real good! When we touched down and deported the plane, the wind blew my umbrella double! Those must have been mighty skilled pilots to fly in that weather!

[BlkBear]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
I hear some of you talk about unpluging your devices from the wall outlets, but wouldn't a good surge protector offer protection from lightning strikes?

Howdy Rusty,

Surge protectors help a lot, but they in most cases get little hits all day long, and each little hit help to cause them to fail later when you really need them. Doesn't happen all the time, but you only need to happen once, to know that their not a 100% sure thing. Even the power going out for a few mins and then coming back on a few mins later can cause a surge that can zap the SP and you'd never know it was not protecting the things plugged into it, until it actually fail and the stuff gets fried..

And as others have pointed out, if you know a storms coming, better to be safe and unplug anything you don't want to have to replace.

A buddy of mine is a Ham operator and he has his ham room, is on a different power source than the main house and both the main house and the ham shack have power company installed surge protection, as well as a back up generator. And I think he's grounded to the center of the earth (well he kids that he is anyway).

A little light reading from a couple of saved Bookmarks about surge protectors and how they work.

http://www.totse.com/en/technology/computer_technology/surge.html

http://www.smug.net/resources/surge.html

[Mosca]

A puffball is one of those big mushrooms that looks like a brain. I swear you can almost watch them grow, they grow so fast.

A giant puffball can reach up to 15" in diameter. They're supposed to be delicious, but I never eat wild mushrooms.

Tom

[Bama]

Here in L.A. (lower Alabama) thunderstorms or lightning storms are very common. The really rough storms come through during the spring months similar to those that occur in the Midwest. However, after June 1, our forecast is basically the same everyday - hot, humid, 40-60% chance of thunderstorms. We are very close to the Gulf, which brings in a lot of moisture daily, and when it gets hot in the afternoons, BOOM instant storms. I think that we are averaging about 2 to 3 thunderstorms per week this summer. You get use to these summer storms that pop up every day. However, they tend to get nasty. We had one Tuesday night that struck a tree near the house about 100 yards away. That will get your attention!!

You can't live down here without surge protectors. I can't count the number of TV's, computer modems, phones, etc. that have been fried by lightning. I also know several people who have lost their homes to lightning. It's nasty stuff and should be respected.

Plus, with all the thunderstorms, I can't keep my vehicles clean. But hey, the rain is nice, so I am not really complaining.

[Mosca]

Here's my forecast for RIGHT NOW: I'm at work in Wyoming County, and I live in Luzerne County.

Severe Weather Alert from the National Weather Service
.../O.NEW.KWNS.SV.A.0715.050812T1755Z-050813T0000Z/

PA . PENNSYLVANIA COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ARMSTRONG BRADFORD CAMERON CENTRE CLARION CLEARFIELD CLINTON COLUMBIA ELK FOREST INDIANA JEFFERSON LACKAWANNA LUZERNE LYCOMING MCKEAN MONTOUR NORTHUMBERLAND PIKE POTTER SULLIVAN SUSQUEHANNA TIOGA UNION WARREN WAYNE WYOMING

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS....

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by Mosca
A puffball is one of those big mushrooms that looks like a brain. I swear you can almost watch them grow, they grow so fast.

A giant puffball can reach up to 15" in diameter. They're supposed to be delicious, but I never eat wild mushrooms.

Tom

After doing a Google search, I thought they might be mushrooms.

I've never seen 'em that big though!

[RamAirV1]

A house in Carmel, IN was struck by lightning twice in one month! Carmel is just north of Indianapolis.

RamAirV1