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Last night about 8PM we had a thunderstorm pass through and I was busy typing away right here on my little keyboard when right outside my window a light flashed and the loudest crack I've ever heard just about blew out my window.

My neighbor came over today and asked me if I knew what that lightning hit? He took me into my backyard and showed me. Less that 50 yards from my house! He viewed the incident from his deck next door and parts of the tree flew onto his deck.

http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/65577003-M.jpg

There was nothing blackened! No fire! Just big power! It split this damn tree and it's about 18 inches diameter. Knocked the bark off most of the way down on one side.

http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/65577013-M.jpg

http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/65576996-M.jpg

That crack in pic 3 is the tree itself. There was a bunch of ants living in the bark and around the edges. They've all gone to heaven!

Where's JerryTreeExpert? I may need his advice now.

I suspect his advise would be a Stihl. My neighbor here had to cut down a pine a few years ago. It was turning brown about 2-3 weeks after the strike. Didn't rip the bark as bad as your pictures but about 7-8' up from the base was a ring about 1' where the sap had boiled out. Bout made me pull a muscle it skeered me so bad.........Nasty stuff.

Glad you didn't suffer any loss. I lived in N. Florida for a couple of years and lightening was always frying something close by.

Wow-zer.. ...that was close.

I listen to a science show on the radio once a week and a few times in the past they have talked about how wood from a tree that's been hit by lightning will not burn.

You should chop a piece off and see if that's true...

DJ

Boxer wrote:He viewed the incident from his deck next door and parts of the tree flew onto his deck.

Did he mention anything about the smell? I was close to a lightning strike about 10 years ago and could smell a carbon like odor when it hit.

That appears to be the same storm I rode my R through on the way to Birmingham yesterday. It was a mess. Although the rain was heavy, it was all the cloud to ground lightning that worried me. Remembering that guy getting struck by lightning last year on his bike didn't make me feel any better.

Thad

Hey Boxer - so how'd you get the stain out of your chair?

During a delay at a Little League game years ago, (I was in charge and cleared 3 fields for a storm heading our way), one coach said his football team in Florida had several guys killed by a lightning strike at a practice. And he was on a beach when lightning struck someone nearby. I changed dugouts! He was a lightning magnet!

That stuff scares me! So powerful and so unpredictable!

WOW! Glad all is well. Does it seem the tree will survive?

DSKYZD

Glad you and the bike are OK. Stihl is definitely the way to go!

Actually, have a pro (arborist) take the tree down. I recently had 7 trees taken down on my property because of risks to our house, cars and people. The biggest one was 37" in diameter -- too much for my chain saw.

I'm not religious, but I think this is a sign from God. Sell your BMW and get ye to a Buell dealership: