Impressive!!
IGHLANDS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Striking security camera video shows a lightning bolt exploding the ground outside of a Florida home over the weekend, narrowly missing a man in his yard.

Denice Murphy said her husband Rod was outside turning off the sprinklers ahead of some forecasted rain Saturday morning when a lightning bolt struck mere yards away from him.

LINK to see the event: https://wgntv.com/news/watch-l...nd-near-florida-man/

Looks like it may have hit the plumbing for the sprinkler system at that house, judging by the way it traveled.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Looks like it may have hit the plumbing for the sprinkler system at that house, judging by the way it traveled.

It found a ground for sure.

As an 18 year old kid I was manning a fire lookout tower that took a direct hit one evening. All the windows shattered and the shutters (made from 2X8s) were turned into kindling. I'm not ashamed to admit that I soiled myself. Few things scare me nowadays...lightning is one of them. It deserves all the respect you can give it.

“…. her husband Rod….”

There’s a joke in this somewhere.
What do you call a man standing in his yard being struck by lightning?

And his last name is Murphy.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimineer:
“…. her husband Rod….”

There’s a joke in this somewhere.
What do you call a man standing in his yard being struck by lightning?

First thing that caught my attention about the story, my wife and I had a good laugh.

Back around 1978 I lived in a duplex facing a corner at Fort Campbell. I happened to be looking out the kitchen window and saw lightning strike the street sign on the corner. Loud is an understatement. Flash-to-bang time was zero seconds.

Lightning strike.
When God tells you to get off His lawn.

Many years ago , I was standing under a covered wash rack at work . Thunderstorm rolled in so I decided to wait it out before trying to get back across the yard to the shop . Lightning struck the radio tower about a hundred feet from where I was standing . I saw the guy wires light up . Mother nature don't play ..

Years ago my fire department responded to a lightning strike call. Lightning had hit a tree, then energized a nearby underground gas line, then blew two gas meters off the side of two houses.
The first due engine was also hit at that call and sent several firefighters to the hospital to get checked out, thankfully no injuries.
Only damage to the engine was the two way radio system.

Years ago I had lightning strike too close to me 4 times in one afternoon. By the 4th strike I was damn near cowering in the corner.

When we lived in Tampa, my dad drilled wells and sold/installed pumps. Dad used to walk out and laugh at the lighting, when I asked him why he told me he was gonna make a lot of money tomorrow because that lightning had hit a bunch of wells and frayed them. Never forgot that…I musta been 8 or 9

I ran a "weekend duty" crew at Eglin Test Wing in the late 80s.

Cut everyone loose, finished up the maintenance log book and was heading home. Stepped out of the hanger and as I was closing the hanger door, "FLASHBOOM!!!" lightning hit an F-16 parked on the ramp about the same distance as this guy.

Yes, it is instant FLASHBOOM, and I felt the heat.

I was almost facing/looking toward the aircraft, so I saw it flash.

I saw a big puff of dark brown smoke rise over the aircraft, and ran out to the jet (thinking maybe a fire), and realized after looking around the spot, the ground cord (yellow PVC jacketed 1/8 inch twisted stainless cable) with a "jack plug" into the aircraft, and a "gator clip" that connected to the ground point receptacle, a small "loop" of steal in a concreate "divot" was "gone" the clip had popped off the steel in the flightline receptacle, and the jack was still sticking in the aircraft ground point, but the cable was gone.

It vaporized.

Went back into our flight shack, got a new ground cable, and called Job Control and told them what happened, so they could pass the info along to the F-16 Flight when they came in to start the next shift. (had many other strikes nearby during the years on the flightline, but none as close as "feeling it" that day.)

I also had lightning hit "TDC!" (too damned close) when riding my scooter though bad weather a few times. Never liked the feeling of "winding the Jack-in-the-box" when riding, but when it is your sole transportation, you just grit your teeth and hope if it gets ya, it gets ya quick...

Figure guys in boats, from fishermen to the Squids, deal with a lot of it as well.

Almost got busted by lightning a few years ago.

Wasn't so much of the noise or light, just the heat and the air rushing toward me.

Lots of memories watching lightning arc up on one ridge, from the upstairs balcony of our house, one another. Used to blow stuff on that ridge, all the time - dumb place to put a road, but there was neither power, nor a plan to put power, on that ridge, when that road was constructed.

I have seen people who survived a lightning strike. It is not pretty. Things just dont work right anymore. Besides the obvious burns it does serious damage to the nervous system. People walking along the beach in a summer thunderstorm not realizing that they are perfect targets.