The house just got shaken with the loudest thunder crack that I've ever heard! We looked around - low and behold, the big poplar tree just outside the house got hit! It stripped off a 30 foot long ribbon of bark from top to bottom and sort of exploded it away from the tree. There were chunks of bark 50 yards away!
I had thought that I was living a fairly good life, but..... was this a warning of some-kind??? At least it wasn't a punishment - yet!
I know that because, fortunately, the bark was the only damage. The tree neither split, started on fire, nor came down - a good thing as, had it fallen, it likely would have crushed my car, the house, or both!
By the way - yes, that picture was taken by me, standing under the tree shooting upwards to show the bark stripped off, not twenty minutes after it had been struck. And yes, I realized almost immediately just how incredibly stupid it was for me to be standing there and got the h*** out from under it.
Had I been the target, it was the perfect opportunity to strike while I was being an idiot!
You NEVER, EVER, stand under a tree during a lightning storm! Remember that kids! It's not like I don't know that, so for me to get all excited and go rushing out, under the tree with a camera while the lightning was still cracking.... just plain stupid!!
Very exciting! The first night in our new apartment, there was a huge storm. We didn't have the electricity turned on yet, and most of our furniture wasn't here, so we sat and watched the lightning hit all around our apartment complex. Living on a hill is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI hope your tree is ok! I imagine that getting hit by lightning is a traumatic experience.
I hate lightning! We've been struck 3 times (with damages) and every time it storms, the anticipation of it striking us again makes me a nervous wreck.
ReplyDeleteI've never been as close to a lightning strike as that. What a close escape for you and your home. Fantastic close up photo, and thank goodness you lived to tell the tale after your rush to capture the event.
ReplyDeleteLets hope there'll be no further occurrence... What's that saying? Lightning never strikes twice.Yet Ms Anthropy has proof that it may happen again. Batten down the hatches!!
Hey Neil
ReplyDeleteI've been posting stories (later to be chapters, I hope), relating to my experiences in boot camp. Due to some gremlins in blogger, most of them didn't show up on anyone's dashboard. (including mine). So I posted links to them on a page called "USMC Boot Camp," it's right under the header. They all posted this morning in one big batch. I'm not sending you this as "pressure" to read them, but rather to let you know they are there, if you want to.
sorry to post this here, but I didn't have your email...
pat
Okay, back to comment!
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty scary. Anything for a good photo! It also would have also been a shame if the tree would have been ruined.
It looks like the tree is going to survive the ordeal despite the large amount of bark blown off and the good sized crack on each side. Had it been a drier year, it might not have... so all of our rain this year may be a blessing in disguise.
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