By the way, on Friday December 10, 1999 a film crew from The Learning Channel (TLC) came and conducted 6 hours of interviews with me concerning my experiences with and knowledge of lightning and it's effects. The interview was broadcasted on TLC on September 7, 2001.

Lightning incident #9 July 19, 2006:

Lightning incident #8 March 17, 2003:

I was feeling somewhat better with my second flu bug of the season so went outside at about 3:40 pm to make my 160-10 meter antenna lightning grounding system more permanent, due to all the recent lightning storms. At 3:55 pm I was squatting at one of my 10 foot x 1/2" diameter "in the ground" ground rods, attempting to clamp the #4 ground wire to it from the antenna. Suddenly I felt a static electricity charge and before I could let go of the wire and rod I got jolted pretty good, as an upward moving stepped lightning leader from my 160-10 meter "L" antenna went looking for the downward moving lightning leader, from a developing thunderstorm approximately four miles to my SE. Fortunately an upward moving lightning leader from another object nearby, a concrete and rebar reinforced 25 foot street light approximately 200 yards to my SW, took the strike!!! As I write this email my hands are still tingling. I knew there was potential danger, as the 500 mb temperature was -12 deg. C which can assist in producing excessive lightning development here in Florida and a mid level disturbance was approaching the state. But there was nothing in the area when I started and this lightning bolt was the first one of the day in my area.

By the way by the time I was finished installing my radio station DC ground it consisted of four 10' x 1/2" copper water pipes each separated by 25 feet and tied together with #4 solid copper bus wire. The copper bus was buried in the ground and encircled the house and was also tied into the service entrance power ground, telephone ground and cable ground, as well as sixty 126 foot long bare #8 solid copper buried ground radials. 


Lightning incident #7 August 19, 2001:

I got caught in an incredibly fierce lightning storm this afternoon in Tampa and all the way home to Plant City some 25 miles distant. When I left a business meeting at 3:00 pm I made a mad dash for the car at Waters and Armenia Avenue in north Tampa, as lightning struck the Winn Dixie sign on the east side of the parking lot. On the way home along Busch Blvd. between I-275 and U.S. 301 through Tampa and Temple Terrace, I saw lightning hit all seven cell towers along the route. As I was sitting at the traffic light I saw a bolt of lightning rise up from the hood of my car with a thump, could feel heat, static electricity and smell ozone and burning wood. I also heard weird buzzing, zapping noises and felt my body involuntarily pull slightly back and to the right, INCREDIBLE!!! As I passed Busch Gardens I saw lightning strike one of the tall steel roller coasters, lightning once again struck a power pole just in front of me and to the right at Busch Blvd. and 40th St and then a third time at Busch Blvd. and 78th St. and then a fourth time at Bullard Parkway and Harney Road and then a fifth time at U.S. 92 West and Moore Lake Rd, near my house in west Plant City. I felt like I was on a military battlefield!!!

It was simply incredible to be so close to lightning so many times in one storm. As many times as this has happened to me in my lifetime, sometimes I wonder if this is how I will die. What was even more incredible was the number of citizens walking around outside totally oblivious to the danger. Last week a 44 year old Professor at the University Of South Florida located in NE Tampa was struck and killed by lightning on campus, while nearby a 29 year old man was struck while walking his dog, he survived but the dog was killed.


Lightning incident #6, August 22, 1999:

The time was 9:15 pm. We were having a post sunset thunderstorm. I was looking out of my east facing window watching as the thunderstorm approached my location from the SE. All of a sudden BLAMO lightning strikes the 64 foot vertical section of my 256 foot inverted L antenna, suspended from a 75 foot pine tree approximately 30 feet away. The flash, actually 4 ground to cloud return strokes nearly blinded me for about 5 minutes and the thunder a bullwhip multiple cracking sound made my ears ring for two hours. I also felt heat and static electricity.

The 64 foot vertical section of the antenna wire, which was made up of double coated #12 stranded wire evaporated. When I checked the pine tree the next day I found a 1.5 foot long gash in the tree bark with sap oozing out, 1.5 feet off the ground, the point at which the return strokes began. I also observed a branch blasted off where the antenna was tied off, at a point 65 feet up where the antenna made a 90 degree bend and sloped off and down to the north. Ironically the return bolts left the trunk of the tree at the point 3 feet off of the ground and jumped to the 64 foot vertical section of the antenna. My antenna saved the tree from death by lightning. Fortunately none of the voltage and current from the lightning strike entered my radio shack, as the near end was grounded to four 10 foot ground rods tied together and spaced 25 feet apart.


Lightning incident #5, June 5, 1999:

I was working at Zephyrhills Correctional Institute, my last LEO job before retirement. I was walking across the compound on the way to my duty station in the mental health unit. The compound had many, many lightning targets around like steel lighting poles, miles of fencing and communications towers, etc. Every summer the institution suffers numerous electronic equipment damaging lightning strikes, even with some very serious lightning protection systems in place. The time was approximately 3:55 pm as I was quickly walking across the parking lot, with the institution surrounded by developing thunderstorms, though no lightning had yet to occur. I looked back over my left shoulder at one developing storm approximately one mile to my southeast, keeping in mind the numerous minor injuries due to lightning on the mile wide compound over the years.

That's when it happened. I observed lightning strike a 150 foot communications tower approximately 200 yards to my south and simultaneously strike a 30 foot tall steel lighting pole approximately 30 yards to my south, standing adjacent to an 8 foot tall security chain link fence. The crack/concussion of thunder was instantaneous and deafening, as the lightning flowed onto the nearby 8 foot chain link security fence, that I was only 3 feet away from. I saw the charge pass by me, with a piece in the form of a miniature lightning bolt, jump off the fence and hit me on the left side of my head, burning some of my hair. The charge made a buzzing, snapping sound as it passed by me on the fence. The complete 8 foot vertical chain link was engulfed in a solid curtain of fluid like electricity. I was completely dazed by the electrical charge for about 40 minutes and I'm still a little dull mentally, three days later.

Approximately 1 hour after the incident my pulse was still 110 beats per minute verses my normal 60, blood pressure 155/105 versus my normal 110/55, my body temperature 101 degrees. It has now been approximately 24 hours since the incident and I still feel weak, shaky, my skin still crawling and half deaf. By the way while at the local hospital emergency room, the ER admitting receptionist was similarly injured by lightning from the same thunderstorm when it zapped her while on her computer!!!

Lightning incident #4:

October 18, 1998. I always leave my amateur radio equipment unplugged and grounded when not in use during the thunderstorm season, which generally runs from mid May to mid October. Before I operate I always go outside and check the weather. When I went outside I immediately noticed a late season thunderstorm developing approximately three miles to my north. I have a 256 foot long inverted L antenna up 64 feet for 160 meters, which is directly grounded outside to four ten foot ground rods. I decided to check the grounding system real quick, just in case I had forgotten to attach the two very large alligator clips which complete the grounding circuit, which by the way "were not" connected to each other. The moment I grabbed the clip on the antenna side with one hand, The very first lightning strike to occur with the storm, struck a power pole approximately 100 yards away, inductively coupled to my antenna and shocked the heck out of me. I was very lucky to escape without any permanent/serious injury, only 30 minutes in a daze.


Lightning incident #3:

July 17, 1997. My radio shack and weather instruments were in my bedroom at the time. A typical summer thunderstorm was raging outside. My wife and I were laying on our bed reading, when lightning made a direct hit on my homebrewed lightning detection system! The sensor was mounted on a grounded steel mast 45 feet in the air, with it's receiver in the bedroom. My wife and I received a significant electrical shock when the lightning entered the room. My wife says it was actually a ball of lightning but I didn't see it. We felt intense heat, smelled ozone, felt static electricity before and after and were both pretty much deafened for one week from the crack of thunder.

The following damage occurred, the eave of my house caught fire but fortunately was put out by the rain, my lightning detection system vaporized, my electronic weather station was destroyed, as well as an expensive communications receiver. I was very fortunate not to have lost my Yaesu FT-840 transceiver and other radio equipment. We also lost the following appliances around the house, NONE of which were plugged in in any way; three televisions, three telephones, one stereo system and a microwave oven. We always unplug everything when a storm threatens. All were damaged by an inductively coupled electromagnetic pulse!!!


Lightning incident #2:

July 4, 1989. It was a hot and humid early summer afternoon in Nobleton, Florida. I was in the front yard mowing, with no clouds overhead and only fair weather cumulus in the immediate area. Way off in the distance to my south I saw a classic thunderstorm with anvil top. As I watched the storm I saw a positive polarity anvil cloud to ground lightning bolt strike the power pole and transformer in my front yard 75 yards away, of course knocking out the power and scaring the HECK out of me. I went inside and took a look at my lightning detector and the lone thunderstorm cell was 30 miles to my SSW!!! I also verified the storms distance with a call to NWS Tampa Bay. BIG TIME BOLT FROM THE BLUE.


Lightning incident #1:

June 1969. It was another terrifying Florida lightning storm. The mid and late 1960's seemed to have more vicious lightning storms in number and closeness, being related to more cold air aloft intrusions then we have experienced since. When you have a 500mb temperature of -10 Celsius or colder and a 400 mb temperature of -20 deg. Celsius or colder here in Florida during summertime it can contribute to a high lightning strike frequency. I was in the kitchen of my parents home. I observed lightning strike an oak tree (rare) in our back yard.

A second later a ball of lightning (plasma) about the size of a basketball and as bright as an arc welder, rolled off the tree about 6 feet above the ground. The ball made a loud buzzing sound as it slowly moved towards and hit our large in wall air conditioning unit, knocking it out. My mother saw a blue flame shoot out of the air conditioner about 6 feet long. The ball then moved onto the chain link fence in our back yard, accelerated and hopped succeeding chain link fences for about 2 blocks. The ball then ran out of chain link fence where it terminated at the corner of a neighbors stucco and block house, blowing a very large hole in the house. As the ball traveled through the neighborhood, it also knocked a man off of his porch swing, causing minor injury.

In 1999 I stopped by the house with the lightning damage and it was still visible, as the original patch job had fallen apart. I spoke with the home owner and explained what had happened to the house in 1969. She then told me that they had suffered six damaging lightning strikes on the property during the previous 20 years. Also in the intervening 36 years my parents house and property has experienced five more damaging lightning strikes. Anecdotal evidence points to this area being especially prone to lightning strikes.

Bottom line? No matter how knowledgeable and cautious you may be concerning lightning, it can still get you, so beware!!!