Sad story—lightning strike out of clear blue sky

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was there when it happened and it was incredibly scary and sad. It had been an absolutely beautiful day and then we began to get a few small rain drops. We packed up and had crossed the street to the bathhouse to wash off when suddenly everyone was rushing off the beach. Within minutes we had fire trucks, EMTs, etc.

This was in Kitty Hawk btw. Those leaving the beach only knew someone had been hit by lightning. Sky was clear. We got in our car and began to leave and further down by Nags Head it was dark, cloudy and raining.

This did come out of the blue. Aside from very light and fine rain drops there was no other indication of a storm coming. It was incredibly sad. Beach remained closed remainder of day and the storm ended up hitting NH and KH dumping a ton of rain with lots of lightning and strong thunderclaps

Sorry, but rain doesn't fall out of clear blue sky. There was a storm close enough that you were getting rain. That's not "off in the distance". That's nearly overhead. Gravity doesn't make rain fall sideways. It comes more or less straight down out of the cloud it precipitated from.


It's SCIENCE, people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lightning does NOT happen "out of the blue". There had to have been a storm nearby, it just wasn't directly overhead.

Lightning isn't magic. The conditions that create it are well understood. It only happens in proximity to storms, because those moving air masses are what is necessary to create the static charge.

It doesn't just happen "out of the blue"

I was nearly struck by lightning a few years ago while the sky overhead was clear. I was at a crowded garden center (Sun Nursery in Woodbine). There was a storm way off in the distance— far enough away that you were aware it was over there and were thinking it might start raining in an hour or so. From out of nowhere, lightning struck one of the big metal frames of the garden center. It was terrifying. So loud and so scary. Everyone screamed and ran inside. I learned my lesson— I go inside when thunder is in the distance.

It likely was closer then you realize. Probably 5 miles or so , if you could hear thunder. Thunder doesn't travel much more than that.

You’re probably right!
I understand the weather much better now— we bought a boat a few years ago and I’ve learned how to read and understand the weather radar. I use the app RadarScope to tell me exactly how far away storms are and in what direction they are traveling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is there a Go Fund Me? Didn't the kid have health insurance?

Are you from Canada? You seem unfamiliar with hospital billing practices in the US. It is highly likely that there will be significant medical bills, even if there he had health insurance.

Since he died his family will not need to pay those. They don’t have to use their own money to pay his medical bills so unless he was a zillionaire they won’t have to pay those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was there when it happened and it was incredibly scary and sad. It had been an absolutely beautiful day and then we began to get a few small rain drops. We packed up and had crossed the street to the bathhouse to wash off when suddenly everyone was rushing off the beach. Within minutes we had fire trucks, EMTs, etc.

This was in Kitty Hawk btw. Those leaving the beach only knew someone had been hit by lightning. Sky was clear. We got in our car and began to leave and further down by Nags Head it was dark, cloudy and raining.

This did come out of the blue. Aside from very light and fine rain drops there was no other indication of a storm coming. It was incredibly sad. Beach remained closed remainder of day and the storm ended up hitting NH and KH dumping a ton of rain with lots of lightning and strong thunderclaps

Sorry, but rain doesn't fall out of clear blue sky. There was a storm close enough that you were getting rain. That's not "off in the distance". That's nearly overhead. Gravity doesn't make rain fall sideways. It comes more or less straight down out of the cloud it precipitated from.


It's SCIENCE, people.

Omg, READ the article.

[Anonymous]

We were on the beach one time, bright sunny skies and it started to rain, no clouds in sight. It wasn't just a few drops either. It was an actual shower.

Weird stuff like that happens. I'm sure there had to be clouds somewhere but directly over our heads it was clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was there when it happened and it was incredibly scary and sad. It had been an absolutely beautiful day and then we began to get a few small rain drops. We packed up and had crossed the street to the bathhouse to wash off when suddenly everyone was rushing off the beach. Within minutes we had fire trucks, EMTs, etc.

This was in Kitty Hawk btw. Those leaving the beach only knew someone had been hit by lightning. Sky was clear. We got in our car and began to leave and further down by Nags Head it was dark, cloudy and raining.

This did come out of the blue. Aside from very light and fine rain drops there was no other indication of a storm coming. It was incredibly sad. Beach remained closed remainder of day and the storm ended up hitting NH and KH dumping a ton of rain with lots of lightning and strong thunderclaps

Sorry, but rain doesn't fall out of clear blue sky. There was a storm close enough that you were getting rain. That's not "off in the distance". That's nearly overhead. Gravity doesn't make rain fall sideways. It comes more or less straight down out of the cloud it precipitated from.


It's SCIENCE, people.

Clearly you didn’t read. I mentioned that just a few miles south in Nags Head it was already dark and raining. Storm was clearly approaching but sky was still blue in Kitty Hawk when he got hit. Nothing but a few drops of rain and blue skies. Storm was in the vicinity but not directly overhead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were on the beach one time, bright sunny skies and it started to rain, no clouds in sight. It wasn't just a few drops either. It was an actual shower.

Weird stuff like that happens. I'm sure there had to be clouds somewhere but directly over our heads it was clear.

+1

We've been rained on before when the sky was blue above us. Rain can travel sideways a good bit before hitting the ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a good old fashioned smiting.

Too soon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The strong storms scares me these days. There were lightning and thunder about 5pm yesterday around here and I though something big was brewing. You know those crazy storms that we've been having with strong thunder and lightning.

My kids were at Soccer practice when that storm came through just south of Kensington. We could hear thunder and see lightening in the distance. Our Coach cancelled our practice after consulting an expert she knew who said to take shelter.

Another team of boys sharing our field continued to practice. We told them what we had heard and the Mom/Coach/whatever snarkliy said" I like to live on the edge" and kept those little boys on the field! As We left, the rain was pouring, big drops lo ess than a mile away.

She put those boys at risk. This awful story of OBX tragedy clearly illustrates why you take shelter when a storm is nearby. I was so angry for the parents who dropped their babies off with her and trusted her with their safety. And she thought she was soooo bad ass. Idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is there a Go Fund Me? Didn't the kid have health insurance?

Are you from Canada? You seem unfamiliar with hospital billing practices in the US. It is highly likely that there will be significant medical bills, even if there he had health insurance.

Since he died his family will not need to pay those. They don’t have to use their own money to pay his medical bills so unless he was a zillionaire they won’t have to pay those.

Unless a family member signed some of the hospital’s contractual documentation as guarantor(s) or in another similar capacity. It looks like the gofundme account was opened while the victim was still in a coma — he would have spent several days there before sadly passing away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were on the beach one time, bright sunny skies and it started to rain, no clouds in sight. It wasn't just a few drops either. It was an actual shower.

Weird stuff like that happens. I'm sure there had to be clouds somewhere but directly over our heads it was clear.

+1

We've been rained on before when the sky was blue above us. Rain can travel sideways a good bit before hitting the ground.

+ 2

I remember when I was younger and it would rain while the sun is shining, my grandma used to say “the devil is beating his wife”
Still have no idea what that means

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is there a Go Fund Me? Didn't the kid have health insurance?

Are you from Canada? You seem unfamiliar with hospital billing practices in the US. It is highly likely that there will be significant medical bills, even if there he had health insurance.

What did people do before go fund me? Medical bankruptcy’s are higher now than ever before even with all these go fund me sites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The strong storms scares me these days. There were lightning and thunder about 5pm yesterday around here and I though something big was brewing. You know those crazy storms that we've been having with strong thunder and lightning.

My kids were at Soccer practice when that storm came through just south of Kensington. We could hear thunder and see lightening in the distance. Our Coach cancelled our practice after consulting an expert she knew who said to take shelter.

Another team of boys sharing our field continued to practice. We told them what we had heard and the Mom/Coach/whatever snarkliy said" I like to live on the edge" and kept those little boys on the field! As We left, the rain was pouring, big drops lo ess than a mile away.

She put those boys at risk. This awful story of OBX tragedy clearly illustrates why you take shelter when a storm is nearby. I was so angry for the parents who dropped their babies off with her and trusted her with their safety. And she thought she was soooo bad ass. Idiot.

That's when you parent-up and take your own child off the field. I allowed my child to play in a rainstorm (the rain was sideways) and I have always regretted thinking the coach was smarter about it than I was. He wasn't. He was a looney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The strong storms scares me these days. There were lightning and thunder about 5pm yesterday around here and I though something big was brewing. You know those crazy storms that we've been having with strong thunder and lightning.

My kids were at Soccer practice when that storm came through just south of Kensington. We could hear thunder and see lightening in the distance. Our Coach cancelled our practice after consulting an expert she knew who said to take shelter.

Another team of boys sharing our field continued to practice. We told them what we had heard and the Mom/Coach/whatever snarkliy said" I like to live on the edge" and kept those little boys on the field! As We left, the rain was pouring, big drops lo ess than a mile away.

She put those boys at risk. This awful story of OBX tragedy clearly illustrates why you take shelter when a storm is nearby. I was so angry for the parents who dropped their babies off with her and trusted her with their safety. And she thought she was soooo bad ass. Idiot.

That's when you parent-up and take your own child off the field. I allowed my child to play in a rainstorm (the rain was sideways) and I have always regretted thinking the coach was smarter about it than I was. He wasn't. He was a looney.

Yeah...this happened at Grace Episcopal so if any of those parents who dropped their sweet little boys off for soccer are reading, don't trust your coach to keep your kids safe. Hang around for practice if it looks like rain or if the weather forecast is sketch cause your Coach can't be trusted to make the right call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was there when it happened and it was incredibly scary and sad. It had been an absolutely beautiful day and then we began to get a few small rain drops. We packed up and had crossed the street to the bathhouse to wash off when suddenly everyone was rushing off the beach. Within minutes we had fire trucks, EMTs, etc.

This was in Kitty Hawk btw. Those leaving the beach only knew someone had been hit by lightning. Sky was clear. We got in our car and began to leave and further down by Nags Head it was dark, cloudy and raining.

This did come out of the blue. Aside from very light and fine rain drops there was no other indication of a storm coming. It was incredibly sad. Beach remained closed remainder of day and the storm ended up hitting NH and KH dumping a ton of rain with lots of lightning and strong thunderclaps

Sorry, but rain doesn't fall out of clear blue sky. There was a storm close enough that you were getting rain. That's not "off in the distance". That's nearly overhead. Gravity doesn't make rain fall sideways. It comes more or less straight down out of the cloud it precipitated from.


It's SCIENCE, people.

Clearly you didn’t read. I mentioned that just a few miles south in Nags Head it was already dark and raining. Storm was clearly approaching but sky was still blue in Kitty Hawk when he got hit. Nothing but a few drops of rain and blue skies. Storm was in the vicinity but not directly overhead

A blue sky directly overhead is meaningless if there's a thunderstorm a few miles away. Nags Head and Kitty Hawk are like five minutes from each other.