Weather Thread

[Avvakum]

Tornadoes are insane, good luck to those people.

Every year here in tornado alley, I go through the whole waiting and wondering thing, seeing if friends and relatives are ok. It gets old after a while, but it is what it is.

[Ryan Ruck]

Well, this morning has been interesting...

It was storming earlier and I was in my bedroom having just put on my pants, in fact. I was facing a curtained window onthe front side of the house when all of the sudden the window is filled with purple light, I simultaneously hear an electrical sizzling noise, and then feel a crash like a truck hit my house. I knew there had been a lightning strike very nearby, I think the closest I've ever experienced one.

Finished getting dressed and scoped out the yard after the storm let up. Here's what I found:



This tree is about 75 feet from my house, on the left hand side if you're facing it from the street!

You can see scoring all the way up the tree to near the top. No idea if the tree is going to survive.

After a quick battle damage assessment, I didn't find a whole lot of damage since I run all my electronics behind surge suppressing battery backups. Looks like the only casualties are my D-Link DIR-655 router and, I think, the power supply on my Home Theater PC (if I'm lucky that took the brunt and spared the mobo, HDs, etc). My Drobos with all my data are still good to go (or at least they power up). TV and receivers all power up. Other PC and laptops appear to be okay. Had to get out the door for work so I didn't have a chance to check everything like the stove and washer/dryer so fingers crossed with those.

I'll have to snap a couple more pics of the tree damage later.

[American Patriot]

EMP damage to the electronics most likely.

Tree will probably survive, because the lightning traveled mostly on the surface of the skin of the tree, over the bark and the sapwood (where water is carried). Unless the bolt split the tree, it will be ok.

A smaller tree might have been splintered like neighbors trees have had happen in the last few years.

I saw a 70' pine take a direct hit once near my mountain property a few years back and it stripped the bark from where the lightning hit, to the bottom of the tree, but the tree lived and as far as I know is still alive today, albeit, minus some outer bark (which I found some of 200 yards away! LOL)

[American Patriot]

BTW, did you have to change your pants right away? LOL

[Malsua]

That tree is a goner.


I've been about 50 feet from a boomer. Did you hear the click? It's usually Click - flash - "kaabloooowwwweeyyy"

scares the shit out of me every time.


For what it's worth, I'm always asked "what router should I buy". In the past the DIR-655 was on the list, later firmwares turned it into a POS.

I've had people listen to me, others ignore me.

Usually after they've taken back the POS they ignored me for, they end up with what i suggest.

There is only 1 router I would suggest anyone buy right now.

The rest are JUNK!!!! Dlink, Linksys, Netgear, whatever, JUNK!

Asus RT-N66U. The RT-AC66U and RT-AC68U are still not there yet although you'll probably have no issues with either. Others have had issues. You won't have any trouble with the N66U.

[American Patriot]

I dunno. I've seen trees survive direct strikes like that before, especially trees that big and thick.

That's an oak from the looks of it, and they tend to take a hell of a pounding before they die.

As long as the blast didn't cut off all the sapwood from carrying water up, I think it will be ok. It might have a die-off of some of the wood around the actual hit.

Ryan, is the tree weakened at all?

[Malsua]

That's a Soft Maple. I can tell by the bark. A common Ohio Maple at that, they're everywhere.

[Malsua]

Now that I see leaves, it's a Silver Maple, part of the soft maple family.

[Malsua]

I used to work for a wood harvesting company. We used to buy standing timber and have the Amish guys log it for us. We'd haul it to the Amish mills, and I'd haul it to the kilns and run it through the straight line saw. I'd program during the day, mid afternoon I'd don my wood hat and go to work in the mill. Same guy owned both.

We bought stands of trees all over eastern Ohio and into West Virginia.

[American Patriot]

That's a Soft Maple. I can tell by the bark. A common Ohio Maple at that, they're everywhere.

Yeah, you're probably right. Looked like oak leaves when I first glanced, but I can see you're right.

[American Patriot]

This is red oak - and what I thought I was seeing:



Here's a maple leaf as I remember them (we don't have many around here):

[Toad]

Mal - Are you sure that tree is a goner? I see living trees with those lightning scars frequently. Theres one in my own backyard, and when I take the kids to the park, several of the big old trees up there too have lengthy trunk scars.

[Toad]

You got my curiosity up - I had to look around a little bit.

Response of Trees to Lightning

A tree’s biological functions and/or structural integrity are affected by lightning strikes. Along the path of the strike, sap boils, steam is generated and cells explode in the wood, leading to strips of wood and bark peeling or being blown off the tree. If only one side of the tree shows evidence of a lightning strike, the chances of the tree surviving and eventually closing the wound are good. However, when the strike completely passes through the tree trunk, with splintered bark and exploded wood on each side, trees are usually killed.

Many trees are severely injured internally or below- ground by lightning despite the absence of visible, external symptoms. Lightning or electrical current passes from the trunk of the tree through the roots and dissipates in the ground. Major root damage from electricity may cause the tree to decline and die without significant aboveground damage. If the tree is in leaf, the leaves wilt and the tree will probably die within a few days. If the tree survives long enough to leaf out the following spring, then the chances of recovery are much greater. Watering and fertilization are suggested to reduce tree stress.

http://essmextension.tamu.edu/treeca...d-tree-damage/

[Ryan Ruck]

Sorry all who asked questions yesterday. I forgot to reply to them...

EMP damage to the electronics most likely.

That's what I thought, especially with those multiple antennas on the router soaking it up. Did a more thorough casualty check last night. Only other thing I found was the DirecTV Mini-Genie box in my room won't turn on. The main receiver and the Mini-Genie in my brother's room are okay.

Tree will probably survive, because the lightning traveled mostly on the surface of the skin of the tree, over the bark and the sapwood (where water is carried). Unless the bolt split the tree, it will be ok.

A smaller tree might have been splintered like neighbors trees have had happen in the last few years.

I saw a 70' pine take a direct hit once near my mountain property a few years back and it stripped the bark from where the lightning hit, to the bottom of the tree, but the tree lived and as far as I know is still alive today, albeit, minus some outer bark (which I found some of 200 yards away! LOL)

It might survive. It had rained and was raining when it happened so the outside of the tree was pretty wet which may have helped the lightning travel along the surface rather than through the interior.

BTW, did you have to change your pants right away? LOL

Just about!

I've been about 50 feet from a boomer. Did you hear the click? It's usually Click - flash - "kaabloooowwwweeyyy"

scares the shit out of me every time.

Don't recall whether I heard the click or not. Just remember hearing the electronic sizzling noise when the flash hit and then the boom.

There is only 1 router I would suggest anyone buy right now.

The rest are JUNK!!!! Dlink, Linksys, Netgear, whatever, JUNK!

Asus RT-N66U. The RT-AC66U and RT-AC68U are still not there yet although you'll probably have no issues with either. Others have had issues. You won't have any trouble with the N66U.

Bought that exact router yesterday after your recommendation and the recommendation of a good friend at work who is a techie.

Also ordered a Seasonic PSU for my Home Theater PC on his recommendation. I'm hoping the PSU took the brunt of the hit and is the only thing wrong with it. If not, I'll probably be upgrading the HTPC to a smaller, receiver-style case and upgrading it from a dual core to something better.

Ryan, is the tree weakened at all?

It doesn't appear to have damage too deep. Like I said, it looks like the wet surface may have kept most of the charge on the surface. Then again, who can say? Electricity does funny things. I've seen pics of lightning strikes to trees that look like an artillery shell has hit them. This only blew a few small chunks off the surface.

[American Patriot]

Verify for us is it oak or maple? I'm pretty sure, like Mal said, it's maple. Originally I thought red oak or some kind of oak....

[Malsua]

It looks to me as if it went down the center of the tree...meaning it's toast.

if it only blew out bark on one side, it may live, but I suspect the next heavy windstorm will split it right down that crotch.

[Ryan Ruck]

I haven't had any time to get pictures while it's light out. If I can't get any tomorrow, I'll definitely get some this weekend as I've got yard work that needs done.

[Ryan Ruck]

Well, got the new HTPC power supply in and installed and now, nothing...

Looks like I'm building a new HTPC. I won't clutter up this thread with the details of the build. I'll start a new thread in the Computing section.

[Ryan Ruck]

Oops, just realized I forgot to post those extra pics. Tree is still alive. A couple of the areas near where it was struck have slightly more brown leaves but otherwise it looks like it's doing okay.

In other lightning strike news...

Lightning Strikes Moving Truck

June 9, 2014

A surveillance video caught the remarkable sight of a lightning bolt hitting a truck as it drove on a highway in Edmonton, Canada.

The couple inside the truck, Al and Betty Perry, told Canada's CTV it sounded like a "sonic boom" when the lightning hit the truck.

A fireball enveloped the truck, melting part of the metal and burning away two craters into the the road.

The Perry's were trapped inside, unable to open the doors or windows, which seemed locked, as smoke filled the inside of the cab.

"It's an awful feeling to have. I saw our lives passing in front of our eyes," Al Perry told CTV. "I turned my body and put my two feet up against the window and tried to kick the window out. I can't tell you how many times I tried and tried and tried."

Thankfully, a nearby cop saw the couple and helped rescue them from the truck.

There's a video that won't embed at the link. Pretty crazy footage!

[American Patriot]

I had lightning hit the hood of my old red Jeep in the middle of a storm chase a few years back/. No video... but it left some marks... inside as well as on the hood. lol