Lightning

[pinemartin]

Just in case you haven't seen a tree that has a severe lightning strike I thought I would post some pictures of one. The tree is a 18" DBH red oak about 70ft tall that has been blown to pieces. The tree has been split from top to bottom and there is shrapnel everywhere up to 100ft away. I was impressed by the power of good old mother nature.

 

[ropensaddle]

Just in case you haven't seen a tree that has a severe lightning strike I thought I would post some pictures of one. The tree is a 18" DBH red oak about 70ft tall that has been blown to pieces. The tree has been split from top to bottom and there is shrapnel everywhere up to 100ft away. I was impressed by the power of good old mother nature.

I saw it about a 100 feet from me and I was in a tree. I get down fast now lmao

 

[TreePointer]

Wow! The lightning struck trees I've seen aren't as devastated. That thing exploded.

 

[HS Climber]

Thats amazing how something that fast could do that much damage.

 

[Rftreeman]

that's a pretty good one, I saw a poplar get blown to splinters that was about 24" dbh, I was deaf and blind for about 10 minutes seems.

 

[olyman]

electricity=heat--think stove. water in tree-instant boil if large enough bolt- instant blowup!!!!!!!!! think instant steam power!!!!

 

[treemandan]

Wow! The lightning struck trees I've seen aren't as devastated. That thing exploded.

Maybe they weren't hit by lightning.

 

[tjbier]

On the bright side it's instint seasoned firewood!

 

[songofthewood]

On the bright side it's instint seasoned firewood!

:agree2:

 

[pinemartin]

Maybe they weren't hit by lightning.

What would you suggest??????????

 

[treemandan]

What would you suggest??????????

hard to say for certain but if it don't look all blown apart like the trees in the above pics it most likely wasn't hit by lightning.

 

[TreePointer]

Maybe they weren't hit by lightning.

It's very possible.

The ones I've seen (and assumed were the result of lightning strikes) usually didn't have that much blowout thrown that far and had much more char in the wound.

 

[Brmorgan]

Most of the trees that get hit around here are Douglas Fir, and they usually just get a big spiral split in the bark from top to bottom, and often at least partially die. However I did cut up a big 40" Fir a few years ago that had been hit, and it blew out a strip 6" deep by 8-12" wide all the way up. These pieces, like in the photos above, could be found dozens of feet from the tree.

 

[treeseer]

here's an oak that split from top to bottom 12 years ago. wood was sealed, no rot, tree stands--in the median of a highway.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Just in case you haven't seen a tree that has a severe lightning strike I thought I would post some pictures of one. The tree is a 18" DBH red oak about 70ft tall that has been blown to pieces. The tree has been split from top to bottom and there is shrapnel everywhere up to 100ft away. I was impressed by the power of good old mother nature.

I think Huck Finn had the right words to describe this:


Blown all to flinders!



I remember reading that the total amount of energy released in lightning strikes every 24 hours (globally) is more than the amount of energy in all the worlds nuclear arsenals combined.

:jawdrop:

 

[squad143]

electricity=heat--think stove. water in tree-instant boil if large enough bolt- instant blowup!!!!!!!!! think instant steam power!!!!

When water converts to steam, it expands 1600 times (volume). Thats a lot of expansion in a very short amount of time.

 

[super3]

hard to say for certain but if it don't look all blown apart like the trees in the above pics it most likely wasn't hit by lightning.

Not all trees hit by lightning get blown to smitherines

 

[blueatlascedar]

Not all trees hit by lightning get blown to smitherines

Agreed, I've seen them blown to pieces like the pics posted and I've seen them with very thin scars running down the tree or around it like a barber pole. I've also had a situation where a client had 4 decent sized red oaks growing in a square formation about 8-12' apart and lightning bounced around the inside perimeter of those and nailed everyone of them hard. Bark blown around the yard and splintered wood everywhere. I looked at the trees the day after the storm and the leaves were already wilting.