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HellsKitchen
sage
Reged: 09/05/08
Posts: 356
Loc: Melbourne Australia
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No observing last night....a warm and humid day gave rise to one of the most violent and spectacular lightning storms I have ever seen in my life. The storm moved in at around 11:30pm and continued raging until nearly 2am.....with lightning frequency of several flashes per second, some strobing up to 10 times. Had a few very close strikes aswell, no more than 2 houses away. I was outside for over 2 hours, mesmerized by an absolutely mindblowing lightshow, my mum was constantly begging for me to come inside but I was just stunned at what I was seeing.
Not a bad substitute for astronomy me thinks 
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S 38º 00' E 145º20'
Custom 12" F/4.6 dob
10" GSO dob
Intes M500 Mak
4.5" Meade Newtonian
Set of Vixen LVWs + TV barlows + powermates
Astronomik 0III, UHC, H-beta filters
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Ptarmigan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/23/04
Posts: 2351
Loc: Arctic
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I see that happening a lot in Texas. Night time storms can be cool and scary because they wake you up in the middle of the night. I remember one storm with a bunch of loud thunder and bright lightning. I would hear thunder every second for the next 30 minutes and next thing, dead silence.
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Ptarmigans=Cute and Cuddly
Meade Starfinder 8
Nikon 10x50
Rebel XT
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b1gred
Enginerd
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 15711
Loc: Castle Rock, CO 6677' MSL
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I LOVE a great lightning storm, and we get some GREAT ones here in the Front Range of Colorado...
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"Dark Skies & Great Viewing"
RandyR / W0RDR
GPS 9.25 XLT/Sky Align /FeatherTouch
TV85 w/FeatherTouch
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panhard
Mongo
Reged: 01/20/08
Posts: 5191
Loc: Markham Ontario Canada
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I also like them. I think of them as Mother Natures light shows.
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FirstSight
Post Laureate
Reged: 12/26/05
Posts: 3874
Loc: Raleigh, NC
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I love 'em too, provided I can watch from a reasonably safe place.
But...if you've ever inadvertently been caught outside in an exposed place when a bad T-storm unexpectedly moved in quicker than you could reach shelter...that can be really terrifying. Until you can reach safe shelter, you can improve your odds by avoiding as much as possible the highest-risk areas near lone tall trees or metal fences etc, but at best if there's cloud-to-ground lightning anywhere within a half-mile to mile radius of you, you are still running a gauntlet of uncontrollable random chance of crossing at the wrong moment a local area of attractive charge that draws a lightning bolt. Your life is in the hands of nature's unvengeful, but unmerciful hands for one to several scarily uncomfortable minutes, where who you are, what you've done make no difference - all that matters is where the electronic charges happen to be momentarily most imbalanced between cloud and ground.
FLASH! one-mississipi, tw... BOOOOOM! Ruhhhhhnnnnnn ruhhhhn ruhhhhhn! Still a minute back to the house...FLASH! one-mississipi, two miss..BOOOOOOM! Oh gosh, oh gosh....[adrenaline rush]...
Been there, done that two or three times. Not fun at all.
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Chris M., aka "First Sight"
Orion XT12i Dob with Moonlite CR-2 focuser
WO Megrez 90 refractor on UniStar Light mount
Nikon 10x50 Binoculars
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16198
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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I prefer to stay inside the house during lightning storms.
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Ted
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panhard
Mongo
Reged: 01/20/08
Posts: 5191
Loc: Markham Ontario Canada
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I get wonderful views from my balcony. There are 4 floors above me. I don't lean over the metal railing though.
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davidc
sage
Reged: 11/24/05
Posts: 261
Loc: Mesa, Arizona
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I wish we had lightning storms like that, from the great monsoon storms we used to get around here in the late 80's and early 90's. You could float your inflatable raft up and down the side of the street. About once a summer we'll get a good thunderstorm that would give us a great lightning show though. You definately don't want to be in the middle of one though, it's really a hair raising experiance. Literally. I was out camping with my son about 8 years ago, when an unexpected storm rolled in. It started out as a light shower for a little bit, then all H broke loose. We were sitting under a 14 X 12 canopy, when all of a sudden, crack, lightning struck and peeled a strip about 4 inches wide, and 8 feet long, from a pine tree right next to where our tent was set up. The noise was deafening, and the static made the hair on our heads raise up. I don't want to think what would have have happened to us if we were inside the tent. I still remember it vividly like it was 2 weeks ago. Now I don't set up tents under trees, but I'll still go out and enjoy the lightning show. That's the next best thing to astronomy for me.
David
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13.1 Inch-F/4.8 Royce Conical Homebuilt Dob
8 Inch-F/5 Orion Dob
4 Inch Celestron Reflector Camping Scope
25mm Meade W/A Ep
13mm Orion Stratus Ep
8mm Orion Stratus Ep
2X Meade Barlow
Meade Cheshire/Sight Tube
East Valley Astronomy Club
Searching For Rainbows In The Dark
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HellsKitchen
sage
Reged: 09/05/08
Posts: 356
Loc: Melbourne Australia
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I was outside for the entire time for 3 hours with lightning flashing and strobing directly overhead several times a second. Came out alive, certainly ddin't want to miss this light and sound spectacular.My mum was hysterical, yelling at me to go inside, heck she was even pulling at my clothes trying to drag me in but I wasn't missing out on this. Later I discovered I was also drenched from the rain!
Had another good show on Saturday evening, more distant but my house is on a hill with views to the south, where the storms were occuring.
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S 38º 00' E 145º20'
Custom 12" F/4.6 dob
10" GSO dob
Intes M500 Mak
4.5" Meade Newtonian
Set of Vixen LVWs + TV barlows + powermates
Astronomik 0III, UHC, H-beta filters
Edited by HellsKitchen (11/01/09 10:03 PM)
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hm insulators
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/22/07
Posts: 1357
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Quote:
No observing last night....a warm and humid day gave rise to one of the most violent and spectacular lightning storms I have ever seen in my life. The storm moved in at around 11:30pm and continued raging until nearly 2am.....with lightning frequency of several flashes per second, some strobing up to 10 times. Had a few very close strikes aswell, no more than 2 houses away. I was outside for over 2 hours, mesmerized by an absolutely mindblowing lightshow, my mum was constantly begging for me to come inside but I was just stunned at what I was seeing.
Not a bad substitute for astronomy me thinks
That sounds similar to a wild thunderstorm we had over Phoenix in August, 2008. The whole eastern horizon was lit up with a lightning show like I had never seen! It flashed and sputtered like a fluorescent tube going bad. For over an hour, I watched as the storm moved in, leaning heavily on the balcony guard rail because a hernia that hadn't been repaired yet was really bothering me that evening. (To this day, I still call this memorable storm the "Hernia Storm.") As it moved closer, the thunder became thius constant low-pitched roar, almost like a diesel train.
When it finally slammed into my neighborhood, I estimated winds at my apartment complex to be over 70 mph, perhaps over 80. The lightning and thunder were constant and the rain poured out of the sky.
The next day, driving around Phoenix to complete errands, I saw that "The Hernia Storm" had knocked down trees and power poles everywhere; one major street was closed off because of all the poles and lines down. Meteorologists estimated that some parts of the city had wind gusts over 100 mph.
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Darenwh
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/11/06
Posts: 1220
Loc: Covington, GA
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Big lightning storm + big picture window + house overlooking a lower area for long open views = Great Light Show...
Big lightning storm + Open area away from shelter = Scary Situation...
I've experienced several storms in Kentucky that were wild as can be. Lightning seemed to be going on continuously with no interruptions. Wind howling and Huge raindrops add up to a very intense show. These are great to watch but I would still rather get a night out under the stars...
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Daren
Covington, GA
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hm insulators
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/22/07
Posts: 1357
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That was what the "Hernia Storm" was. Lightning with no interruption!
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rookie
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/14/06
Posts: 875
Loc: St. Petersburg, FL
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Hi HK
I can appreciate your facination, but standing outside in an open space during a storm like that is a really bad idea.
Our Tampa Bay area is considered the lightening capital of the US. The region extends east-west along the I4 corridor through Orlando. In the summer we often get storms when the thunder rolls continuously for hours. Florida Lightening
Lots of people get hit from lightening here. Some of them die and others suffer life long disabilities. We are told by the weather forcasters when these storms are occurring, not go go outside for at least 1/2 hour after the last thunder clap is heard. That's because it can originate from clouds far away. If you watched it cross the sky, you know what I mean.
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SV
Scope: Celestron CPC8
Binoculars: Garrett GT80~45, Fujinon 16x70, Regals 10x42, Ultima 9x63, Nikon AE 8x40
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