Lightning Strikes Again - and Again and Again and Again and …
Two nights ago (the evening of 17 July 2006), we had a bit of an electrical storm.
[Because the Heck Of A Guy server was out much of yesterday, this item is belatedly posted. Since it's old news already, I thought this photo of the Eiffel Tower being struck by lighting in 1906 was appropriate -- especially since I didn't get any pictures of our own storm.]
In fact, according to the Chicago Tribune, “more than 3,200 cloud to ground strokes occurred in one 10 minute period … within a 225 mile radius of Chicago.”
Da Boyz and I have calculated that approximately 3,188 of those struck the ground someplace on the HeckOfAHouse lawn.
A static photo cannot provide a sense of the storm. One can, however, approximate the experience by standing in a shower turned to maximum volume while looking directly into a strobe light. Continue until onset of seizure.
I’m certain that 3,200 strikes is not a record; if it were, Chicago (Big shoulders, but lousy self-esteem) would be putting up a banner and the City Council would be passing proclamations honoring ourselves as “Most Shocking City” or something of that ilk). Nonetheless, it impresses me as a statistic and it certainly impressed me when we were in its midst.
In another oddity, CBS reports that Monday night’s storm left 110,000 local ConEd customers without power. That’s not the odd part; the weirdness is that we were not one of those 110,000.
heyyyyyy you wanna really see a seizure-inducing light show??? Come out here to Tucson during monsoon season … 3200 strikes???? Feh…we have you beat on that one!
Comment by Jenna — July 19, 2006 @ 10:40 am