A rare sight

D2Cat

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Mar 27, 2014
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40 miles south of Kansas City
A woman in West Virginia snapped a one-in-a-million shot of a tree being struck by lightning.

Photographed by Debbie Parker


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TheMurf

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BX1880.with loader and 48 inch deck. 1990 Gravel 12G Riding tractor.
Jun 25, 2022
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Wow, that's an awesome picture. Scary, the power of nature.
 

Henro

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That’s impressive! Thanks for posting.

One of the things I regret about the world we are living in today is my second thought was ” I wonder if that’s real?”

Not trying to be negative… Just shedding a tear…
 

dlsmith

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Now you know why you don't stand under a tree during a storm.

Years ago I had lightning hit a large poplar tree in the front yard, blew a six inch wide strip of bark off the trunk from the ground up about 30 feet. Five years later, power went out in the house, long story short, the buried power feed lying next to a large root was penetrated and finally burned out. Utility guy said he'd seen it before.
 

Outnumbered

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Moseley, VA
I vote real pic after seeing one similar. Had that happen to one just outside my front door 12-15 years ago. The tree survived the strike only to blow over in one of the tropical storm remnants a few years ago. I cut it up for fire wood and you could count back in the rings as when it was burned by the lightening. I guess the roots were damaged by the lightning and in its weakened state uprooted in the high winds.
 

lugbolt

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ZG127S-54
Oct 15, 2015
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Some might take this "differently" but I'm gonna say it anyway. You have been warned.

I started in the tractor repair business way back in 1992. June 27th 1992 as I remember. 2 days after I started, we had a little barbecue shower pop up out of nowhere. It kept getting bigger and more powerful and raining/thundering harder. So the supervisor and I were standing in the doorway of the shop watching it rain. We had been discussing, borderline arguing, which denomination of the church was "better". For a minute it got a little on the heated side. Not terribly long afterwards, lightning hit a tree not 250 foot from us, RIGHT in front of us we were both watching the wind blow the leaves and branches around like the wind does to trees. Lightning hit it, big crack and then the tree was exploded. Pieces of the tree were thrown onto the shop roof. Some pieces had hit customer's equipment outside. Some of it was laying in the highway out front. I mean, there really wasn't a lot left of that old hickory tree. It honestly exploded right in front of us. The supervisor and I of course ran back inside for "cover" (like it was gonna do us any good). After we both calmed down we agreed that we wouldn't be arguing over which denomination was 'better" anymore. In fact I think we came to an agreement that a power much more than ours pretty much told us that we were created and that we can be destroyed in an instant.
 
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bird dogger

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Feb 24, 2019
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Oh, Oh!! That doesn't bode well for our tree. I was going to post this last summer but forgot about it.
Late one night while watching tv during a rainstorm, there was a bright flash and loud boom. I told the wife, "I bet that lightning strike wasn't too far away!!" Then forgot about it.

A week or two later we spied this strange line on our nice American Linden tree just outside our attached garage door.....not more than 20 yards from the house! It looked like someone had taken a ripper knife and slit the tree bark open from the top most branch all the way down the trunk to the ground.

It took a few days to realise that bright flash and loud boom a few weeks prior was apparently alot closer than we had imagined!! So far, even a year later, the tree shows no signs of any lasting ill effects. But our fingers are still crossed.
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I'll have to look and take a pic of the wound's appearance this year and see what it looks like. I'm guessing the tree is a good 75+ yrs old....or even more. I'd hate to see it tip over anytime soon.
 
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jyoutz

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Jan 14, 2019
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Edgewood, New Mexico
Oh, Oh!! That doesn't bode well for our tree. I was going to post this last summer but forgot about it.
Late one night while watching tv during a rainstorm, there was a bright flash and loud boom. I told the wife, "I bet that lightning strike wasn't too far away!!" Then forgot about it.

A week or two later we spied this strange line on our nice American Linden tree just outside our attached garage door.....not more than 20 yards from the house! It looked like someone had taken a ripper knife and slit the tree bark open from the top most branch all the way down the trunk to the ground.

It took a few days to realise that bright flash and loud boom a few weeks prior was apparently alot closer than we had imagined!! So far, even a year later, the tree shows no signs of any lasting ill effects. But our fingers are still crossed.
View attachment 104422
View attachment 104423

I'll have to look and take a pic of the wound's appearance this year and see what it looks like. I'm guessing the tree is a good 75+ yrs old....or even more. I'd hate to see it tip over anytime soon.
It depends on whether the tree heals the bark, or it remains open and starts rotting. I’ve seen examples of both.
 

chim

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Jan 19, 2013
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So much for lightning striking the highest point. Can't imagine there isn't something grounded on the roof of this building: