During heavy thunderstorms over parts of Tennessee this past weekend, one man was reportedly struck by lightning through his video controller while in his home. But how does this happen?
*****
I live in an area where there's quite a few lightning strikes and have had at least 2 strikes that were within a hundred yards of my house - one was on the pecan tree in my back yard and the other hit the pecan tree directly across the road in my nearest neighbor's yard.
Pro tip: Don't plant pecan trees.
But anytime we have a thunderstorm, I unplug my laptop and move it away from any cords or outlets, and I unplug my kindle if it's being charged. If it doesn't have enough of a charge to read, I go old skool and find a printed book to pass the time.
As long as we're on the subject of lightning, here's a cool tracking website that Elmo turned me on to:
Just zoom in on your area to watch the lightning in real time.
The other night we had a thunderstorm off in the distance near Red Boiling Springs and I was watching the strikes on the site as they were happening, then hearing the thunder boom a few seconds later.
Cool site.
ReplyDeleteStorms have knocked the power out here a few times this past month. If there's serious lightning I unplug anything I can't afford to replace. And no showers or doing the dishes either.
ReplyDeleteA while back I picked up a couple of 18650 powerbank/chargers and those have come in handy for keeping phones running without having to plug anything into the wall when you can hear trees and power lines sizzling outside.
Well, we don't own a TV or any other expensive appliances other than my computer and our Kindles. anything else can be replaced for just a few bucks.
DeleteHeh, I've had to replace two well pump controllers that got blown to pieces.. I'm dreading the day when the pump itself finally fries.
DeleteVery cool site, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGotta give credit to Elmo for it. He sent it to me a couple weeks ago.
DeleteVery cool. The link is now in my bookmarks bar. Tanks!
DeleteInteresting it would not open in private browsing. Tested it in a normal window and the first thing it said was we use cookies so they are collecting data on you.
DeleteBack when I lived in tornado alley, lightning struck a neighbors chimney and blew bricks out of their fireplace in the basement.
ReplyDeleteI have a son who I on a feed tube, so I built a power source that plugs in with a triple charger feeding 2 lawn tractor batteries going into an inverter that fits through the top. Power goes out he can still be fed, it will power his pump for at least 6 meal times I know of. This is a piece of mind back up, the only thing the wife has to do to go hot is flip the battery disconnect between batteries and inverter. Almost fool proof.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived on a farm in the Catskills of N.Y. We had a storm that blew a couple old time glass fuses across the cellar. The propane stove sparked, and the electric fencer which was unplugged was melted (it was still hooked to the fence)
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived on a farm in the Catskills of N.Y. We had a storm that blew a couple old time glass fuses across the cellar. The propane stove sparked, and the electric fencer which was unplugged was melted (it was still hooked to the fence)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 14, 1960, my mom told me to turn the kitchen light on. I walked into the kitchen and hit the switch at the exact moment lightning hit our house. It apparently followed a rain gutter down and jumped to an outside faucet. It blew the sink apart and then blew apart the light fixture in the ceiling of the kitchen. How I wasn't killed I have no idea. The bolt passed within 3 feet of me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 19, I was driving back to NAS Key West on Rt1 when a lightning bolt blew apart a palm tree as I was driving past. That was about 25 yards but still scared the crap out of me.
Lightning is one of the many things that I refuse to worry about. If it strikes, it strikes. Of course, I'm not stupid about it either. I don't hang around under tall trees or go golfing during thunderstorms. The only thing I've lost to lightning so far was the air conditioning compressor when lightning hit the power line over a mile away. The funny thing is that nothing else like computers or the TV got fried. Homeowners insurance covered it - minus the deductible - but still, paying $500 dollars was better than $2500 dollars.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned, a good thunder-boomer is one of nature's most impressive shows. Sitting on a screened-in porch during that show is one of life's small pleasures.
My wife chastises me because anytime there is a tornado warning, while she is heading to the basement, I'm heading outside looking to take its picture.
Get a superior surge protector. This isn't your one and done variety...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.brickwall.com/pages/the-worlds-best-surge-protectors
As a kid I always doubted the don't get under a tree in a lightning storm mantra. Then on 11 Mile Reservoir in Colorado we got caught out in our fishing boat in a storm and we paralleled shore for about 3 or 4 miles to get back to our landing spot. We were about 100 to 150 yards off shore and I was watching the shoreline when a lightning bolt hit a substantial tree. It exploded the tree in the middle and shifted the bulk of the tree downward into the ground before the whole thing tipped over. Permanently changed my mind about getting under a tree!
ReplyDeleteFriend of mine has been struck twice with no ill effects.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, when this same guy decided to build a house, my dad sold him an acre of land that had been planted to potatoes.
Twice in the previous twenty years, exactly where he eventually built his house, there was a large area of dead potatoes where lightning had struck.
After fifty years, there have been no strikes on that house.
that's a very cool site. Thanks to you and Elmo.
ReplyDeleteI came home once to find some pictures on the floor and some lights that would not work. Turns out that while I was gone a lightning bolt hit close enough to knock the pictures off the wall and completely evaporated a glass fuse. The only piece of the fuse left was the metal ring still in the fuse box. A neighbor who was sitting in a chair got shocked on his butt.
ReplyDeleteThe lightning site is very cool! Thx!
ReplyDelete