This lightning strike was too close for comfort.
Our planet really is like a living, breathing thing. There are times Mother Nature bares her teeth in ways that are completely terrifying. Sometimes she does it through massive flash floods, at other times through volcanic activity. However, in our minds, there is nothing that comes close to a lightning strike.
Where once we could only read eyewitness accounts describing what it is like to experience a close strike, now security cameras sometimes catch these events by accident.
Such is the case in this extremely frightening piece of security camera footage from a company called Timberline Landscaping. According to the video's description, the employees are unharmed in this strike, but they are clearly shaken up in the incident.
We feel bad for that poor guy that ran past the truck in the middle of the frame. It looks like he at least felt some shock from this strike. He probably thought the world was ending in that moment. Note that it does not even appear to be storming out. Lightning can strike anywhere at any time without warning, even on a cloudless, sunny day.
Still, there are some common sense precautions you can take, especially if you spend a lot of time in the outdoors hunting or fishing. The National Weather Service recommends avoiding open areas where you may suddenly become the tallest object for miles around. They also recommend you stay away from trees, metal that could serve as a conductor. The guys in this video were surrounded by a lot of metal. While the NWS says that metal does not attract lightning, this situation could have been much worse had any of those men been touching the metal at the time of the hit.
The lesson here is to use caution anytime thunderstorms are approaching. If you hear thunder and see lighting, the safest thing to do is to head inside until the storm is over.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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