Usually I can sleep through most storms. I'll wake up briefly and get lulled back to sleep fairly quick. Heck I once slept through a hurricane in a tent and only woke up when the wife started smacking me because she was getting wet.

The storm the rolled through here a little bit ago woke me up from a dead sleep and kept me up.

The wife and I both love a good ole thunder boomer. So we got up and went out on the back porch to watch it roll through.

We were sitting the watching the lightening strikes across the hills. Lots of crinkle lightening to keep us entertained for about 20 minutes.

Then the big one hit about 500 yards down in the woods from the house. It was one of those that your hear before you see it. We heard the tree it hit explode before the flash even registered. We looked at each other and said at the same time; "Maybe this isn't a good time to be out here."

There's at least 4 trees down in the woods. I heard the one fall and about 10 minutes later the neighbors chainsaw cranked to life. He's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. He was out there cutting it up while the storm was still raging. The wife asked if I was going to go help him. I told her I'd go help look for his body in the morning. There was no way I was going out there in this to cut trees up. I did call his wife and told her to listen to the sound of the saw. If she could hear it revving then he was mostly likely still alive. If it idled for more than 5 minutes then to dial 911. She just laughed and said; "That boy ain't got the brains God gave a rock. I'm going back to bed and see if he's here when I get up in the morning."

Sounds like you have a moron for a neighbor.

There's 2 things he's good at. Welding and making babies.

He's a master welder for the pipelines up here. So he does have some semblance of smarts.

When it comes to common sense he's severely lacking.

I like to watch a good thunderstorm/lightning show but like you, the cleanup can wait until daylight

That storm rolled through here too elkaholic. Knocked out my power about 7:30 last evening.

I wasn’t alone:



Our service provider stopped doing line maintenance 20 some years ago when a bigger outfit bought them out. Now, every time the wind blows, 10,000 to 20,000 people lose power.

I found a tree down in my driveway this morning. I’m about to go out and cut it up.

I heard the thunder last night, but it all stayed north of me
We sure could use some rain and cooler temps

When will it rain??????

Go look for his body ha ha

How do you explain hearing the boom before seeing the flash? They should be close together at 500 yds, but I can’t think of a situation that the speed to sound would exceed the speed of light. I suppose the crack could have been closer that the flash?

During the three times I've experienced very close lightning strikes I've heard a high-pitched squeal immediately followed by the flash and boom. The squeal came first each time.

I don't know what causes it but it was unmistakable and occurred all three times. It's been explained to me that it is the sound of the air being super-heated and ionized by the lightning charge, the same thing that causes the boom.

Multiple cells close together

Charles, I have no idea. They may have been simultaneous, but my brain registered the sound first.

Lug, I've heard the whistle/squeal before. Once you hear it you never forget it.

Had a few booms around Fairbanks, Ak. yesterday evening and 5 minutes of pea size hail.

No leckric here. Just the sounds of generators running. They have no idea when it will be back on.
Last eve at a campground close to my house a tree fell on a tent. A mom and 11 year old kid died. Storm came fast.

My electrical supplier still has 30,000 people out of power, most of them have been out coming up on 48 hours now. The supplier still isn't giving any estimated times for restoration even though they said last night they'd be doing that this morning.

Now they're just saying they'll give estimated restoration times "later today" (as we approach evening).