Which US State Has the Most Lightning Fatalities? This week is NOAA’s Lightning Awareness week. Lightning has surprisingly killed a lot of people in the USA since records began in 1950. Mountain climbers are especially exposed to lightning in the USA. I’ve been climbing in both the Sierras and Rockies when I saw light strike objects well below me. Scary stuff. […] Weather SnowBrains | June 25, 2014 1 Comment
Brain Post: How Lightning Shapes Mountains Lightning plays a big part in shaping mountains. Researchers studying Lesotho’s Drakensberg mountain range discovered 90 lightning strikes per square half mile. The above infographic explains how lightning shapes mountains. Basically, lightning hits mountainsides, at 50,000F, vaporizing water in cracks in the mountain’s cracks. The pressure from the vaporization of the water in the cracks […] Brains SnowBrains | January 10, 2014 1 Comment
Brain Post: How Lightning Works w/ Super Slow Motion Video A clip from Discovery Channel’s “Raging Planet” on the subject of lightning. The camera technology has gotten to where scientists have been able to record and playback a lightning strike at over 200X slower with really cool results. – Discovery Channel This video reveals how lightning truly works. Negatively charged “step leaders” are scanning, […] Brains SnowBrains | October 29, 2013 2 Comments