Lightning Pictures - Fork and Bolt Lightning

Will and Guy's Favourite Pictures of Lightning

A lightning flash lasts only about 200 milliseconds and consists of 4 or 5 individual bolts.  The flicker you see in lightning is due to the individual bolts, which combine to make up the flash.

Lightning Pictures

1. Lightning Picture - Storm Strikes Yacht
2. Lightning in the Desert
3. Lightning Storm in Majorca
4. Lightning Strikes Down Chinese Debtor
5. Lightning Storm Strikes Lake
6. Rare Picture of Lightning and Rainbow
7. What Chance Lightning Striking Twice?
8. Lightning Misses Tower
9. Lightning Bolt Hits Tree
10. Lightning Strike - Sparks Forest Fire
11. Weird Lightening Picture
12. Forked Lightning Pictures

1) Lightning Picture - Storm Strikes Yacht

Here are two follow-up pictures showing the damage to the mast caused by the lightning bolt.

2) Picture of Lightning in the Desert

What's special about the above lightning picture is the way that the longer you study the image, more and more cacti appear.  It seems a similar effect to the way that our eyes get accustomed to the dark.

3) Lightning Storm Strikes Lake - Two Main Bolts Plus Lots of Forks

Lightning is a gigantic electrical spark that results from billions of volts of static electricity.  Each lightning strike carries a current of 10,000 Amps at 100 million Volts.

Also see a spectacular lightning strike on Burj Dubai Tower

4) Lightning Strikes Down Chinese Debtor

A Chinese man called Mr Xu, swore to God that he didn't owe about $100 to his neighbour Mr Huang.  In the time it has taken you to read this a lightning bolt struck down Mr Xu.  Mr Huang remembered the debt well, Xu borrowed the money for a friend's marriage gift.

In desperation Mr Huang said that if Xu dared to swear to god that he did not owe the money, then he would waive the dept.  Xu foolishly took up the challenge, and made the oath in front of a crowd of neighbours in Fuqing city, China.  Less than a minute after Xu made his oath, he was struck down by lightning.

Xu was quickly taken to hospital where doctors confirmed he had indeed been injured by lightning.  While he is expected to make a full recovery, it is hoped that Xu will settle his debt honourably.

5) Forked Lightning Pictures - A Lightning Storm in Washington

You must be a dedicated watcher to have the presence of mind to take a picture of lightning bolts, or forked lightning.  The picture below was taken by Max Pinton from the roof of his building in Redmond, Washington, USA.

See our forked Lightning Video

6) Rare Picture of Lightning and Rainbow

Lightning usually occurs during heavy storms while rainbows generally form after the rain has stopped, making an appearance of both simultaneously relatively rare. This clash of weather below, was seen above Fort Smith, in Arkansas, USA.

7) What Chance Lightning Striking Twice?

The reason lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place is that the same place isn't there the second time. Willie Tyler   However....  The chances of being struck by lightning twice [on different days] is seemingly impossible, so what are the odds of being struck by lightning seven times?

For the dubious honour of being the world record holder and the man most struck by lightning who survived may we introduce you to Mr Roy Sullivan.  The thunderous events that happened to him occurred as follows:

1942: Sullivan was hit for the first time when he was in a lookout tower. The lightning bolt struck him in a leg and he lost a nail on his big toe.

1969: The second bolt hit him in his truck when he was driving on a mountain road. It knocked him unconscious and burned his eyebrows.

1970: The third strike burned his left shoulder while in his front yard.

1972: The next hit happened in a ranger station. The strike set his hair on fire. After that, he began to carry a pitcher of water with him.

1973: A lightning bolt hit Sullivan on the head, blasted him out of his car, and again set his hair on fire.

1974: Sullivan was struck by the sixth lightning bolt in a campground, injuring his ankle.

1977: The seventh and final lightning bolt hit him when he was fishing. Sullivan was hospitalized for burns in his chest and stomach.  His 'lightning hats' are on display in New York's and South Carolina's Guinness World Exhibit Hall.

7a) Amazing, Strange and True Story Lightning Strike Cures Sick Woman

A Serbian woman has been cured of a serious heart condition after being struck by lightning Will and Guy have discovered. Shocked doctors who'd been treating Nada Acimovich, 51, for arrhythmia, [irregular heartbeats that can be a killer], and discovered that she had made a complete recovery.

Mrs Acimovich, of Sljivovica, Serbia, was saved from death by her rubber soled shoes but the electric jolt put her heartbeat back to normal, say medics. Arrhythmia is normally treated by giving the patient small electric jolts to reset the heart's rhythm but this strike is exceptional.

'In the first place she's lucky to be alive because of the lightning strike, but she's now going to live for much longer too,' we have been informed by a doctor.

8) Huge Lightning Bolt

Newspaper Headline from the Newport Argus

Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
[He probably IS the battery charge!]

9) Lightning Bolt Hits Tree

Lightning and Trees

Detailed and recent research on lightning deaths has led us to want publicise the results: which trees [if at all] you might stand under in the event of a thunderstorm?

1. It is extremely dangerous to stand under any tree during a thunderstorm.
2. It is even more dangerous to stand under an oak than any other kind of tree.
3. The next most risky trees to stand under are poplars and Scots pines.
4. If you are determined be a complete maniac and stand under a tree during a lightning strike, but don't actually want to die, head for a beech. They are ten times less likely to be hit than oaks.
5. According to the very few studies done, you are also much less likely to be hit by lightning under a sycamore, hawthorn or holly tree.

10) Lightning Strike - Sparks Forest Fire

11) Weird Lightning Picture

12) Lightning Storm in Majorca.   Picture Captures the Lightning Forks.

Thunder invariably accompanies lightning, they say you can hear the thunder for up to 12 miles.

13) Lightning Story - Out of the mouths of....

Louise was a little girl who walked daily to and from school. Though the weather one morning was unsettled and clouds were forming, she took her normal stroll to her primary school ½ a mile away.

As the day passed, the weather became more inclement, the wind whistled stronger and there was some loud thunder and fierce lightning. Louise's mother was concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school. She herself was afraid of an electrical storm and thought that it might harm her child. Following a massive clap of thunder, lightning rent the sky like a fireball from heaven.

Terrified, Louise's mother got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. Soon she saw her daughter walking along, but at each flash of lightning, Louise would stop, look up and smile. One followed another, each with the little girl stopping, looking at the streak of light and smiling.

Finally, her mother called her over to the car and asked, 'Louise darling, what are you doing?'

Louise answered brightly, 'God keeps taking pictures of me!'

14) Photograph of a Huge Lightning Bolt in Australia - Kindly sent in by Andrew

• Please send Will and Guy your best lightning pictures
• Have you seen our forked Lightning Video?
• See more pictures of lightning

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