Sad story—lightning strike out of clear blue sky

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

O.k....it sounds like MOST of the people on the beach were taken by surprise by that lightning bolt from out of nowhere. Maybe there were visible clouds off in the distance but it doesn't sound like anyone was noticing a thunderstorm approaching. Everyone was just relaxing and having a fun day at the beach until this random bolt came out of the blue.

I've been to OBX many times and I can not remember seeing cloud to ground lightning when the sky overhead was blue. It actually really shocks me that that happened.

[Anonymous]

While it may sound like a rare or even freakish event, it's not that uncommon for lightning to travel far from its originating cloud, experts say. In some cases, bolts have struck as much as 25 miles from where they originated. Scientists refer to these wayward streaks of electricity as "bolts from the blue," since it often seems as though the lightning comes out of a clear blue sky.

[Anonymous]

Another pilot here, new poster.

It's true that lightning requires storm clouds. Lightning won't strike from a completely clear blue sky. HOWEVER, it can travel quite a ways from the associated storm cloud. From the ground, that may feel indistinguishable from literally striking "out of the blue". Pilots and sailors tend to be very aware of the weather and are likely to notice storm clouds building in the distance, but that is not true of everyone. I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone failed to notice a storm cloud building 10-20 miles away.

Moral of the story, keep an eye on the sky in all directions - not just straight up! Our pool (like most) has a rule that everyone must exist the pool if lightning is sighted or thunder is heard at all, anywhere. This is a good rule. I always hear people complaining about having to get out when the storm is "soooo far away!", but they can move quickly and lightning can jump a long ways. This was a tragic accident - I wasn't there, maybe the storm was visible from the beach and maybe it wasn't - but we can all minimize our risk by being aware of the distant surroundings. It might not save every case, there will always be risks in life, but it can help.

[Anonymous]

It was probably a positive lighting strike, which can come from the top of the storm, from the the tall cumulonimbus clouds as the storm rolls in. They are really dangerous, much moreso than negative lighting strikes, which are the usual ones.

[Anonymous]

Yes, those arguing that lightning can't strike out of the blue should read this article:
https://beta.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/06/27/bolts-from-the-blue-heres-how-lightning-can-strike-when-a-storm-is-tens-of-miles-away/

[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.

Are you stupid? You can't collect money from a dead person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, those arguing that lightning can't strike out of the blue should read this article:
https://beta.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/06/27/bolts-from-the-blue-heres-how-lightning-can-strike-when-a-storm-is-tens-of-miles-away/

If you have blue sky directly over your head, and a storm off to the side, THEN YOU DON’T HAVE BLUE SKIES! You have a storm.


Why is DCUM so fixated on arguing such stupid nonsense?

[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.

Are you stupid? You can't collect money from a dead person.

He was still alive and in a coma when they set up the gofundme.

[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.

What? My mom died and we paid thousands of dollars in medical bills.