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Weather : Thunderstorms

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Diane1947

master brummie
My mother had a irrational fear of thunderstorms.
So when it thundered she went into the cloakroom under the stairs , smoked a zillion cigarettes.
Dad had to open the backdoor to allow a thunderbolt it we had one to pass down the chimney, and out through the back door. This was when we had a coal fire, think that practice stopped once we went to gas.
Curtains closed, if you were eating your dinner you had to stop, because the knives, and forks may be struck by lightning.
In the 80’s my dad had passed away, my mom now in her late 70’s a few years still in the same house still terrified of thunder.
We experienced a really bad thunderstorm in the middle of the night.
I cannot remember if my husband was working nights or I told i‘m going to mom‘s to see if she is okay stay in bed I’ll take the dog.

Anyway at 3am with my very big German Shepard riding passenger seat I got to mom‘s
Who was predicable in the cloakroom , smoking a zillion cigarettes.
She said what you doing here . I said to see if your okay.
So I made a cup of tea. Memories are strange even those things what upset your parents gives you some connection to them 30 plus years later
 
My nan was the same, terrified of thunder and lightening. When I was about 12 I found her in the garden smoking and she made me promise not to tell anyone because they had no idea she smoked. Of course years later I found out everyone in the family new she smoked, she'd been nicking granddads fags for decades...it was an open secret :)
 
my mom had lightning hit the side of her house it blew a huge hole in the wall,bricks flying everywere just like a shell hitting it. the loft was on fire, the brigade come and put the fire out, i was visiting at the time, she was terrified from then on when there was a storm she would come and stop with us bless her......She always kept the door open just in case.:worried:
 
I don't think my Gran was afraid of lightning or thunder but she wouldn't use electrical things during a storm. The TV was unplugged and so I assume were other items normally kept plugged in. As she had a gas stove she would boil a kettle on that, make a cuppa and wait for the storm to pass.
 
My daughter and I experienced lightning damage at almost the same time despite being on opposite sides of the Atlantic, I lived close to the edge of an oak forest, had a strike somewhere in there that blew all my electric gadgets, Pam had a very tall tree by her garage reduced to matchsticks and all her in house electrics destroyed.
 
When My Aunt's house was hit the sockets blew off the wall and the TV suffered. My Nan would always open the back door even though the thunderbolt would have to turn to come out of the door into the kitchen and turn again for the door. She wouldn't use an umbrella in case she was hit.
rosie.
 
pjmburns said:
I don't think my Gran was afraid of lightning or thunder but she wouldn't use electrical things during a storm. The TV was unplugged and so I assume were other items normally kept plugged in. As she had a gas stove she would boil a kettle on that, make a cuppa and wait for the storm to pass.
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Janice, smart move to 7nplu the TV (and compute) even today unless you have a good surge protector!
 
Morturn said:
My dad would unplug the TV ariel in a thunderstorm. He may have been correct saying that with the ariel on the roof, the lightning could run down the ariel cable and blow the TV set to smithereens
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a wise man... i too unplug all my electrical plugs. disconnect my ham earials etc, i saw a flash over from one earial plug to a radio once due to static. it smelt like the dodgems:worried: in my house for a while.
 
As a youngster playing in the garden with no sign of thunderstorms about when a bolt of lightning hit a neighbour's chimney and completely demolished it. Since then I've always felt slightly uneasy when thunderstorms are nearby.

Over recent years I've noticed that we seem to have fewer thunderstorms and it appears to be true according to this newspaper article dated June 2021.
www.theguardian.com

Losing our thunder: why the UK is seeing fewer thunderstorms

Warm air from Spain usually means thundery days will follow – but changing weather patterns are making this less likely
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Lightning is strange stuff. There have been cases where it has smashed through brick walls from an external lightning conductor to an internal water tank for instance. People debate the best course of action. One man had severe chest burns after lightning took a path through the medallion hanging around his neck - did that 'attract' the lightning or did it save him by diverting current from his body? What is 'hard fact' is so-called 'step voltage', lightning hitting the ground can set up a voltage gradient along the surface. Humans are usually OK but cows with front and rear legs far apart can be electrocuted even though strictly no lightning hit them. Similarly farm fencing when hit can 'flashover' to adjacent animals, so good practice is to break long runs of wires. Lastly lightning can strike twice, even 50 times. Certain electricity pylons seem to be very attractive. Keep indoors, keep away from trees and fences.
 
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Spargone said:
Lightning is strange stuff. There have been cases where it has smashed through brick walls from an external lightning conductor to an internal water tank for instance. People debate the best course of action. One man had severe chest burns after lightning took a path through the medallion hanging around his neck - did that 'attract' the lightning or did it save him by diverting current from his bod?. What is 'hard fact' is so-called 'step voltage', lightning hitting the ground can set up a voltage gradient along the surface. Humans are usually OK but cows with front and rear legs far apart can be electrocuted even though strictly no lightning hit them. Similarly farm fencing when hit can 'flashover' to adjacent animals, so good practice is to break long runs of wires. Lastly lightning can strike twice, even 50 times. Certain electricity pylons seem to be very attractive. Keep indoors, keep away from trees and fences.
Click to expand...
Excellent comments Spargone!
 
Many years ago I was visiting someone in Birkenhead. there was a thunderstorm on. She was standing in the bay window and whilst talking pointed towards something she was talking about. At that moment there was a flash of lightening and we saw it hit the end of her finger, travel up her arm and across her back and travel to the mirror on the wall and disappear. Miraculously she suffered no harm.
On another occasion I was travelling in the car on a main road about 10pm when there was a storm on. Suddenly there was a flash of lightening, the street lights went out, the lightening hit the white line in the centre of the road and travelled up it towards me and suddenly disappeared just before it came to my car which I had brought to a stop.
Having said all that I still love watching the lightening
 
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