40 replies to this topic

[nhardy]

Cool pics Jag!

This is the best time of the year by far. Hot summer days are boring. Bring me the crisp cold air and rain.

[MSgt]

Jason's picture is awsome! We wen't to be early so we could just lay there in the dark listen while watching the flashes of the lightening. What a great thunderstorm!

[FolsomBarb]

I love this kind of weather! We turned off our lights, opened up all our windows, and our sliding door and let the breeze come in, along with all the sights and sounds. My son tried filming with his video camera. Not sure whether he got anything decent... Our cat was in rare form. She's siamese, and is always a little nutso, but last night, she thought she was in Disneyland for Cats. The lightning didn't bother her, nor did the thunder. She just went psycho, running around the house, leaping out at us as we walked by, etc.

Great fun!

[Adamal]

Okay.. this is rain.. and it sucks!    See, all you summer hating people out there, look what you did!    Are you done now?  are you happy and wet?  Can we have the sun back now, Please! 

What about us people that like all the types of weather... It was a pretty neat light show last night. I can't complain free entertainment for free from nature

[jagayman]

There was a lightning strike IN lembi park and a bunch of games (especially softball, since they have metal bats ) were canceleed. Boy did we have a rush at work  The TV satellite got knocked out, too.

How many of you had your computers on during the storm? I waited until it died mostly down...having the computer on during a lightning storm isn't a good idea. All is takes a a power surge (or sometimes outage) and all you data gets wiped out.

Do you know the time this occurred? The webcam on www.folsomweather.com is setup for constant motion detection so it detects lightning. From my house, it is only half a mile to Lembi. Unfortunately, when it rains, the image is a little blurry since the camera is waterproof, but the lens will get wet.

Anyways, normally I get a few flashes here and there, but last night, it picked up some dramatically close bolts that nearly saturated the whole frame. If you have the approximate time, I may be able to pull out the still captures for that strike.

Jason

[forumreader]

lightning and thunder
the dog will not stop barking
sleepy, so sleepy

Stormy poetry!....We should dig up that old Haiku thread.

[CataBird]

Okay.. this is rain.. and it sucks!    See, all you summer hating people out there, look what you did!    Are you done now?  are you happy and wet?  Can we have the sun back now, Please! 

Mylo, it's FALL! That's what happens in fall. Summer's over, thank God Almighty!

But, according to the Bee's Weather page this morning, you'll get your "summer" back, in SPADES even. So, don't worry. Be happy.

Gosh, I love rain. Last night was wonderful, except for the poor folks in Gold River who lost their home to a lightening strike. Thankfully, they were'nt home at the time.

[folsom500]

Having lived in the Sac area- Rocklin and now Folsom for the last 6 years- this was the BEST thunder / lightning storm we have had...
Living in San Jose/ Santa Clara for the rest of my life, I can only remember one Light show that would even come close.... on Halloween - no less...

We were watching the game but went to bed early ( since we knew the outcome) and I watched the lightning and heard the thunder for another hour at least- and it then woke me again 2 hours later-- with its loud claps....

Someone on the other side was angry last night... and we saw the results...
( and no I dont believe in a god)

Cheers
F500

[CataBird]

I'm enjoying the light show.  Count the seconds between the thunder and lightning, divide by 5 and that's the approximate number of miles away the lightning strike is.

Why divide by 5? I heard that each second between the light and the thunder indicated a mile in distance. Is that wrong?

Last night, there were times when I couldn't even count "One" second before the thunder crashed.

Out of curiosity: Has anyone here been in a building or campground that was struck by lightening? I have. How about some stories? Here are mine:

1) After Technical School at Lackland AFB, TX, we were preparing to leave for Army Ranger training at Fort Dix, NJ and had to be ready to leave by 3 am on the 19th of February, 1991. I got up at about 1 am to shower and pack, and heard a lightening storm going on outside.

Didn't think much of it at the time, so I stripped for my shower. Next thing I knew, someone was pounding on my dormitory door screaming, "EVACUATE! EVACUATE! THIS BUILDING HAS BEEN STRUCK BY LIGHTENING!!" I rushed to put sweats on and grabbed a rain poncho as I went outside. We were directed to an area at least 100 feet from our building as the base firefighters showed up to put out the fire that had started from the strike.

Even in a hard downpour, fire can still rage. Odd. Dang, it was COLD out there, waiting for over an hour before we could return inside.

2) While stationed at RAF Chicksands, smack dab in the middle of England, I was sent with my team on a war-training exercise to Germany's Black Forest (outside Rhein Main Air Base), where we dug foxholes and lived like moles in the ground.

Then, one night, we had a major thunderstorm, and lightening struck a large tree in the middle of our campsite! It split right down the middle and both sides fell over! Then the rain flooded our foxholes and we had to suspend our war games for a couple of days so the ground could dry out.

I know why it's called the Black Forest!!! The tree canopy is so THICK, no light enters from above; at night you cannot even see your hand in front of your face because it is so dark. It's like being completely blind.

[ngilbert]

Why divide by 5?  I heard that each second between the light and the thunder indicated a mile in distance.  Is that wrong?

Hmmm... hadn't thought about it. Speed of sound is approx 761 mph, divided by 60 minutes, divided by 60 seconds, carry the one, round to the nearest tenth place, calculate air moisture at sea level (give or take), factor in the earth's rotation, and you have sound traveling at .21 miles per second... errrr.... and... umm, call it a mile every five seconds, and um... well trust me. It kinda works out. This assumes the thunder is occuring at ground level - the same level you're at - and not up in the air (which isn't the case - I'd hope) and that it takes you a whole second to say "Mississippi" when you count.

Man that was some storm though.

[john]

when I was a kid living in Tampa, lightning struck the house next door. Went through the chimney and blew a hole through their TV! Our new Atari 2600 was shot, too! It was crazy - bricks on our roof and everything. Nobody was hurt though, thankfully.

Tampa was great - I'm sure cybertrano remembers the daily storms at 4pm (like clockwork!)