Thunderstorms

[Jobu]

Count the number of seconds between the lightning and thunder.

Divide by five and you have approximately the number of miles you are from the storm's center.

Not the storm center, from where the lightning hit.  We'll get this right eventually.

The formula is derived from the speed of sound, which is about 740 MPH at STP, but because you don't get many thunderstorms at 0 degrees C, it is more like 760 to 800 MPH at ground level.  So, that means that the shockwave created by the lightning travels on average about .2 miles per second.  So, when you see the flash, every second before the sound is .2 miles, so if you count to 5, then that's a mile which is why you divide by five.

[somegirl]

Not the storm center, from where the lightning hit.  We'll get this right eventually.

Yes, thanks for the correction.

[Jobu]

Yes, thanks for the correction.

No problem. 

I wasn't trying to be an ass.  Don't take it that way.  Though I am.   

[somegirl]

I wasn't trying to be an ass.  Don't take it that way.  Though I am.   

no worries

[Popeye the Sailor]

Yes, thanks for the correction.

You never say that to me 

[angler]

AZ is known for it's cool ass thunderstorms. They have time lapse cameras they put on the surrounding mountains with high exposure times. It makes for some interesting pictures...

Man I miss that ish.......maybe I should just move back.....

[Le Pirate]

I live in the north Texas plains, so we get the fast moving, quite violent, thunderstorms. I love em'.....unless I'm at work and my car gets hailed on. We seem to get a small (size wise, not severity) storm every other afternoon...or every afternoon the last week or so.


I've ridden my bike to work 3 times so far this summer...and rode home in pea size hail twice.  it hurts.

[KnightofNi]

I live in the north Texas plains, so we get the fast moving, quite violent, thunderstorms. I love em'.....unless I'm at work and my car gets hailed on. We seem to get a small (size wise, not severity) storm every other afternoon...or every afternoon the last week or so.


I've ridden my bike to work 3 times so far this summer...and rode home in pea size hail twice.  it hurts.

get a thicker jacket with better armor and a chest plate

[Desmostro]

Man I miss that ish.......maybe I should just move back.....

+1 though I'd just like to visit a lot.

My house got hit by lightning when I was growing up a week before we actually moved in. It blew the huge brick chimney off which crashed through the roof and burned off the 3rd floor. The blast was so hot it killed the cacti close to the house and fried the birds in the trees in their nests. It was so loud it broke windows up and down the street. I found pieces of the chimney .5 mile away. That's a lot of energy. I'm glad no one was home.

I still love a good lightning storm though.

[Jobu]

+1 though I'd just like to visit a lot.

My house got hit by lightning when I was growing up a week before we actually moved in. It blew the huge brick chimney off which crashed through the roof and burned off the 3rd floor. The blast was so hot it killed the cacti close to the house and fried the birds in the trees in their nests. It was so loud it broke windows up and down the street. I found pieces of the chimney .5 mile away. That's a lot of energy. I'm glad no one was home.

I still love a good lightning storm though.

Was your house located in Baghdad or Afghanistan?  

I've seen exploded trees from lightning but that is just ridiculous.  However, I also recently heard that when the ground holds the negative charge (positive charge is brought to the earth from the cloud), the lightning strike has much more amperage and therefore more energy.  These usually occur as a "bolt from the blue" and come from the top of the anvil cloud, so maybe one of these is what actually hit your house.

[IZ]

Was your house located in Baghdad or Afghanistan?  

Saw a special once that said Southern AZ and Afganistan/Iraq/Iran had similar storm patterns and at the top for lightning strikes.

[IZ]

HUGE storm here tonight in and around Austin area!!  Lightning, funnel clouds and 4" hail!  Made sure the car was pulled in since we had one of the worse hail storms ever a few months back!

Of course..a ton of bikes started arriving today for bike week.