Weather Imagery

Every aspect of the weather fascinates me, including things as mundane as the clouds. This fascination probably manifested itself early in childhood. Growing up and living the first 24 years of my life on the beaches of sunny Southern California offered little in the way of exciting weather, unless fog excites you. I remember as a kid reading books and seeing pictures of huge super cells and clouds bubbling from beneath and thinking the pictures were fake. Nothing could look that cool and be natural. It wasn’t until I moved to Colorado and saw for myself what Mother Nature had to offer. Below are pictures of some clouds I’ve seen while living here in Colorado. There are more to come.

This storm was popping out 2 inch hail and at one point looked as if it were going to spawn a tornado. I was about 30 miles west of the Kansas and Colorado border on Highway 70.

This was the backside of a huge supercell that passed over Falcon, Colorado. The mammantus clouds were awesome looking!

Lightning is one of those things that captures everyone’s attention because there’s just the right mix of fear and curiosity which draws everyone to the show. To go along with lightning’s beauty, there are a lot of interesting facts some people might not have known. Here’s a list of some interesting facts about lightning:

Lightning Odds

• The odds of getting struck by lightning in the U.S. in any single year is 1 in 700,000.
• The odds of being struck in your lifetime is 1 in 5,000.

Lightning Science

• A single lightning bolt is about 50,000°F or 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun.
• A lightning bolt is anywhere from 1,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 volts and between 10,000 and 200,000 amps. Or about 215 kWh (kilowatt hours).
• There are two types of lightning; negative strikes and positive strikes. Positive strikes are 5 times more powerful than negative strikes and positive charge flows instead of negative charge.
• The average lightning bolt could light a 100 watt light bulb for about 3 months.
• The average lightning bolt is 6 miles long, although Cape Canaveral Kennedy Space Center has indicated some as long as 75 miles.
• The thickness of a lightning bolt is about the size of a silver dollar. It only looks bigger because it is so bright.
• A lightning bolt is made of a series of strokes from about 3 to 20, with an average of about four. The duration of each lightning bolt can vary, but typically average about 30 microseconds.

Lightning Statistics

• In this order Florida, Texas and North Carolina are the top 3 states for lightning induced deaths.
• Florida has the highest lightning strike density of anywhere in the U.S. (about 12 strikes for every square mile per year).
• In this order Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania are the top 3 states for lightning injuries.
• About 20% of those unfortunate enough to be struck by lightning die. From 1959 to 2003 a total of 3,696 people have been killed by lightning.
• Around the world there are about 8 million lightning strikes each day.
• Each year, an average 22 million cloud to ground lightning flashes hit the United States and surrounding coastal waters.
• An estimated 307,000 lightning insurance claims are filed each year in the United States. That’s about 1 claim for every 57 Cloud to Ground lightning strikes. It is also estimated lightning causes about $400,000,000 in damages each year in the United States.
• There are about 10,000 forest fires started by lightning each year.
• Lightning kills more people that tornadoes and hurricanes combined. It is the single most dangerous thing produced by a thunderstorm.
• Approximately 494,000 cloud to ground lightning strikes occur in Colorado each year. Colorado ranks 26th in the nation.

Lightning Oddities

• Many survivors of lightning strikes report that right before being struck by lightning their hair was standing on end and they had a metallic taste in their mouth.
• Lightning causes objects to explode because it instantly turns any water to steam. This includes concrete, trees, asphalt and clothes. It’s been known to blow the clothes off people due to the sweat/water instantly vaporizing creating a steam explosion.
• About 1% of all lightning deaths in the U.S. are a result of people talking on a corded phone during a thunderstorm.
• The U.S. Agricultural Department estimates 80% of accidental livestock deaths are a result of lightning strikes.
• Park ranger Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times between 1942 and 1977
• The irrational fear of lightning is known as keraunophobia. The fear of thunder is termed brontophobia.

The last time a commercial plane crashed in the United States due to a lightning strike was about 40 years ago. On December 8, 1962 lighting hit a Pan American Boeing 707 in a holding pattern over Elkton, Md. The lightning created a spark that ignited jet fuel vapor in a holding tank, triggering an explosion that killed all 81 aboard. Ironically, the FAA estimates that each commercial airliner will be hit by lightning once a year (some will get hit more than once, some won’t get hit at all). And in some cases, the airplane itself actually triggers the lightning! So why doesn’t lightning cause commercial airliners to crash? There are three main reasons: highly conductive outer shell, surge/shielding/grounding protectors on electronic equipment, and jet fuel which produces much less explosive vapor.

NASA conducted several tests in the 1980′s in which pilots deliberately flew an F106B jet into thunderstorms to gather data and see what affects lightning would have on the aircraft. Despite being struck over 700 times on 1400 missions the aircraft never sustained any damage. However, it was concluded based on the data collected that on board instrumentation could be affected by small electrical charges caused by the lightning.

Even though the electric current remained on the outer skin of the aircraft, small electrical transients could be induced on wiring inside the aircraft. As a result, regulations were put in place such that all electronic equipment, fuel tanks and fuel lines have their own built-in surge protection, shielding and special grounding systems. Even if the system experiences flickering, it will return to normal in less than a second.

As a last line of defense, jet fuel (Jet-A) now has additives that reduce the amount of vapor produced. Although the vapors are still explosive, the fuel tanks are insulated and grounded which makes it very difficult (dare I say impossible?) for an electrical ignition source to enter the tanks and ignite the fuel.

As a strange side note, if pilots avoid the large thunderstorms, why are aircraft still being struck by lightning? Well, that’s because smaller clouds can also produce lightning and the airplane itself may actually trigger it.

Other Lightning Myths

• Is Ball Lightning Real?
• Do Lightning Rods Attract Lightning?
• Can Lightning Be Used As a Source of Power?
• Can Lightning Strike the Same Place Twice?
• Do Car Tires Protect Me From Lightning?
• Can Lightning Strike Me Inside My House?

Thunderstorms are very powerful events. They can produce grape fruit sized hail, terrifying lightning, strong winds, torrential rains and tornadoes. But another less noticed product of a thunderstorm is the updraft … unless you happen to be caught in one while flying a paraglider.

That’s exactly what happened to a German woman who was flying a paraglider in Tamworth, Australia while training for the World Championship. Caught in a powerful updraft, Ewa Wisnierska found out first hand how terrifying and painful a thunderstorm can be because for nearly 60 minutes she was unconscious and at the mercy of mother nature.

While training in her glider, two thunderstorms quickly formed and merged into one. As she was trying to avoid one storm she got caught in the updraft of the other. According to her GPS unit and tracking log, she was lifted high into the thunderstorm at a rate of about 60 feet per second to an amazing altitude of 32,634 feet which is higher than Mount Everest and where most commercial jets fly. Her wet clothes turned to ice and froze to her body. Encased in ice and without oxygen she passed out and for most of her 60 minute flight she remained unconscious and was subjected to -50°F temperatures, tennis ball sized hail and lightning.

If getting caught in the updraft wasn’t bad enough, she now faced the dangers of getting caught in a downdraft which caused her para glider to descend at a rate of 90 feet per second. As her glider spiraled out of control on her final descent, she passed through 31,069 feet where she regained consciousness. She scraped the ice from her GPS unit and tried to fly the glider, frostbitten and battered.

“When I woke up I tried to fly, I don’t even have the brakes in my hand. My clothes were frozen. The harness had ice peaks [icicles]. It was amazing because the glider was still flying. I don’t know how it’s possible because there was hail everywhere – into the glider, into my harness – and it was still flying.”

With her clothes caked in ice and frozen to her body, she managed to land the glider about 1500 feet from a farmhouse where she laid on the ground curled up in the fetal position to try and get warm. A short time later, her cell phone rang and to the amazement of her teammates she answered.

“It’s beyond the word incredible,” said Godfrey Weness, organizer of the 2007 Paragliding World Championships in the northern New South Wales town of Manilla. “It’s beyond unbelievable. Her chance of survival was a minuscule little dot in a very big ocean.”

Another man who was also caught in the storm wasn’t so lucky. His body was found about 46 miles away from where Ewa Wisnierska managed to land her glider. And just a few years back, 7 paragliders were all killed when they too were caught in a thunderstorm. The fact she survived beat all odds.

Despite the ordeal, the extent of her injuries were severe frostbite, cuts and bruises. The one thing doctors think saved her life was passing out as this caused the heart and other vital organs to slow down to conserve heat and energy.

Most of the new hot water heaters are pretty efficient and don’t need any additional insulation. However some of the older tanks, or less efficient newer tanks, could benefit from some added insulation. They way to tell if you need more insulation is to simply touch the side of your hot water tank. If it is warm to the touch, then some of the heat is escaping which is a sign the tank isn’t that efficient.

You can buy a hot water insulation blanket for a 45 to 55 gallon tank at Home Depot or Lowe’s. It’s nothing more than fiberglass insulation with a plastic outer coat. Most come with tape already attached to the blanket, but you might want to add a bit more. To install it, simply wrap the blanket around the exterior part of your tank and tape it in place. At the top, there will be strips of tape so you can secure the blanket to the top of your hot water heater and prevent it from sliding down to the ground. However, before you tape it to the top of your heater, get a rag and clean the surface so the tape will stick better.

There are two things you must make note of, otherwise you can damage your hot water heater or worse yet, start a fire. Most tanks have an opening near the bottom of the tank near the dial that controls the temperature setting. You must not cover this hole. This is most likely where the pilot light is and it requires a steady supply of air so as to remain lit. The other thing you must not do is extend the blanket all the way to the floor. Air for the combustion of the natural gas feeds in through the bottom of the tank which is why the tank is raised off the ground a few inches. If you obstruct this supply of air, the flame can go out and natural gas may continue to leak into your home. If at any time you smell gas or you no longer have hot water, turn off the hot water heater AND any other ignition sources (such as a furnace) immediately and open any windows. Simply turning off the hot water heater is not good enough as your furnace could still ignite the gas that has escaped into the room.

The other thing that is advisable is to insulate the first 3 feet of cold water piping coming into the hot water heater and as much of the hot water piping as you can. If you feel the cold water pipe coming into the tank you will notice that it is slightly warmer closer to the tank. The hot water pipes should be insulated to retain as much of the heat as possible. There are several different types of pipe insulation products, but I found the foam tubes to be the easiest.

Since I installed our hot water heater blanket I haven’t noticed much of a difference. But if I stick my hand between the insulation and the tank, it is warmer than had the blanket not been there. According to the instructions, the blanket is supposed to pay for itself in about 18 months, but this is hard to verify.