When the Lightnin' Struck.....

First, nobody was injured... second, Mother Nature rules!!

I was making lightning myself (more later) just outside the barn last Saturday afternoon.. watching this thunderstorm roll in from the mountains... as I was working on steel, once a loud crack hit just north of here, I packed it in.... closed the doors... and walked the path back  to the house... as I was rounding the bend, just under the future strike location, I actually said out loud, to the storm, "Bring it on!"... I meant the rain, as it was hot and I was ready for a soaking.... it did start raining basically that instant, but what came a few minutes later I did not want!

so this is a *huge* tree.... can't really tell from the photos...

there were all of these rips in the ground... not sure what caused them...

debris field was kinda crazy...

check out the discoloration from where the electricity ran through and boiled/burned the bark....

debris was thrown from the tree all the way to the house.... small pieces on the roof... and a few four to six foot 2x4 sized chunks all the way past the house to the carport...

can't quite see the debris in this like I had hoped.... but you can see my hammock... hoping to get some time in that beauty before too long!

the strike ran down this pole... it actually moved the pole like six feet at its base...

more trunk action...

it ripped this trench with the steel pole... the pole used to be at the top where the trench ends... this might have saved the tree!

and in addition to taking out the CNC control computer and several other things, it literally exploded the wall wart for the modem.... fused the connector to the base!   (hoping to have real internet by the end of next week - bear with me)

and, as I said, I had been making my own lightnin'!

peace,

me