POBphotocontest - TREES - Not so Safe in a Storm

A couple of evenings ago, we had a really bad storm come through. The storms were part of a cold front that was moving through. The storm produced marble sized hail, a inch of rain and lots of lightning.

We were sitting on the couch watching TV when the storm moved through. The lighting was flashing every few seconds. Then there was a loud flash and boom at the same time the brightness of the flash light up the whole house. I was seeing dots in my vision because the flash was so bright.

We thought nothing more about it because lighting flashes brightly all the time and being on top of a hill it is more prone to be closer and brighter.

The next morning when we were going for our morning walk, we noticed the bark of this tree in front of our house. The bark had been shredded from the tree in a line from the top left of the photo all the way down to the ground.

The plant that was at the base of the tree had been a bright green the day before and now it was crisp and brown.

So I advise you never to stand under a tree in a bad storm. Lighting will not care if you are standing there are not and it will not end well if you are there when the lighting strikes the tree you are under.