Lightning strike really close

[captain]

I have a covered porch that is about 12 feet wide that wraps around two sides of the house. I have an area that is about 20 x 30 that is covered on one of the corners and I now have a hammock that is hanging there. Last night about 11pm  my youngest son and I were laying there in the cool breeze under the porch, it hadn't rained yet but the wind was starting to kick up and cloud based lightning was all around us. Tristan was almost asleep and the whole porch lit up and I actually saw an arc and white and red lightning fingers within less than 10 feet from us. It was a stunning feeling and I rolled over on top of my son when the biggest boom from thunder was all around us, we actually felt heat from the strike. Once the thunder had stopped I scooped Tristan up and carried him to the door where my wife was just opening it. I took him inside and he was literally shaking his legs and hands couldnt stop. I have never been that close to a strike, my oldest son and wife were in the house in the bedroom talking when they saw the flash and boom and they came outside to help us. It was like a flash bang that left us disoriented..

Anyone ever have anything like that happen?

 

[pbghost]

man y'all are lucky ...you hear too often about people getting struck

 

[Rayabusa0818]

Thankfully, I have never been that close. I'm glad you guys are OK!!!

 

[omslaw]

Wow! Glad that you're both OK!! That must have been a scary feeling! How's Tristan today?

 

[twotonevert]

Holy cow Doug, glad you guys are ok. Any damage to the house? What did it strike? Is Tristan ok?

 

[captain]

He's OK now, last night he sat in the chair with me and watched TV and going out to look at the rain was out of the question for anyone. He wouldnt let us go outside..... Today he seems fine, getting into trouble just like normal..... It was definately a weird thing that happened.

Cap

 

[Blazing-Saddle]

I had one hit about 50 ft away during one of our afternoon thunderstorms; blew out a window on my patio, set my privacy fence on fire and generally caused mayhem. I have a line of 100 ft steel powerpoles/lines about 150 ft from the back so I can watch a light show practically everytime a t-storm comes through. Glad to see you and your family are ok as it's terribly frightening to have one hit so close.

 

[solarbarack]

Wow. That gives you a new respect for mother nature. It always amazes me that people live through getting struck by that much force. Glad to here everyone is o.k.

 

[Blazing-Saddle]

Almost forgot; can you find where the strike actually hit the ground? If so, you may be able to carefully dig up the sand fulgurite from the hit. It will look like hollow tubes with sand around them. Lightning will turn sand into glass. Just a thought.

http://plaza.ufl.edu/rakov/Gas.html

EDIT: Added Link

 

[NPD3507]

Wow, i'm glad you guys are okay....Had some hit real close to the house last night...The wife ran outside right when it started to rain like crazy and she got the dogs in the house..sounds like its a good thing she did...

 

[dave3.4]

glad it wasnt any closer to ya!!

 

[ozz]

that lighting is scary stuff glad no one was hurt i was in South Carolina for awhile and in the summer there would be bad thunderstorms and once lighting hit a tree near us and i thought i just got dead bout gave me a heart attack

 

[BlueHaya]

.had one hit real close like that and the flash was green. Was at a friends house who lived close to rail road tracks...it hit the tracks about 50 yards behind his house while we were sitting on his patio.

 

[Fate]

I had a bolt strike a sign in front of my car when I was a teenager, it was close but not that close, scared me though. Saw all the colors in the bolt and swear I could feel the static from it. Saw a bolt hit the water at my grandfathers place in Michigan while we were outside about 50 or so feet away once too. It is a really cool experience to talk about but at the time is very scary to be that close. The colors and feeling of being that close to something that powerful is overwhelming.

 

[jwcfbd]

That's a lot closer then I have ever been but last summer my parents has a bolt run accross the living room floor and hit the fireplace. It came in over the phone line, fried the alarm system and jump to the fire place. It took out a lot of stuff but no real damage was done. It cost insurance about $2000 to fix or replace every thing.

 

[captain]

I went out this morning to look and see what it hit but I couldnt find anything... It rained about an inch after the strike so I am not sure if it smoothed the ground out or what... All the lightning that I ever have seen always threw dirt around or scortched a tree but I couldnt find anything today that indicated anything even happened.

Cap

 

[ktw88q]

Glad you were ok.

 

[TruWrecks]

I had a stike so close to me on my 04 Busa when I was riding on the freeway in a rain storm. It shut the engine off and fried my mini-disc player. My chatterbox even went on the fritz for a while. It felt like someone hit me in the chest with a really baseball bat. I quickly pulled under a freeway overpass.

 

[semi]

had one hit a tree right behind my parents house when i was a teenager...it ran down the tree and then blew up the dirt where it was following a root under the ground...i just remember thinking i had been shot and rolling across the living room floor while my sister and mom looked at me like i was nuts

 

[Fate]

I was telling my wife about the caps story and she mentioned her mom had a strike hit their tv, shoot out through there hall once. That would be scary.