Tuesday, February 14, 2006

 

Huge positive lightning bolt almost zaps an Australian lightning photographer

`The above photo is courtesy of Kane Quinnell from Australia. It was almost his last. The above lightning stroke was almost certainly a “bolt from the blue” – a relatively rare positive lightning bolt that originates from the top of a distant storm cloud rather than from the negatively charged cloud base. [..]

“[..] I clicked away a few times, and got nothing, and then clicked the button again, and within 0.5 seconds of me pressing the button, I had jumped at least 2 metres in the air, as I heard a tremendously loud crack of thunder, and see this amazingly bright beam of electricity right in front of me. I had then landed, grabbed the camera, and was inside the house within 2 seconds.

I did not realize just how lucky I was until I uploaded the picture to my computer, and saw a leader stroke that must have originated no more than 2 metres from where I was standing next to my car, under my carport. Had the main charge taken the leader near me, rather than the one it did, I would be dead. [..]”‘




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