Amazing Weather Stories

Some would say Roy Sullivan was the unluckiest man to ever walk the planet. Or some might say he was the luckiest. Roy Sullivan managed to survive being struck by lightning seven times throughout his life. You might be thinking, there’s no way that’s even possible and this is just another internet myth. But the fact is, all seven lightning strikes were documented and recorded by the superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, R. Taylor Hoskins, and all his injuries were verified by various doctors. Nicknamed the “Lightning Man”, Roy earned…
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The year was 1959. Lt Colonel William Rankin, an experienced and veteran pilot of both World War II and Korea, was flying his F-8 Crusader on a routine flight from South Weymouth Naval Air Station, Massachusetts to Beaufort, North Carolina with his wing-man Lt. Herbert Nolan. At an altitude of 47,000 feet and a speed of Mach .82, they were avoiding the turbulent weather below, common in the area during the summer months. They where just minutes away from the start of their descent when trouble forced the 39-year old…
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Skippers and captains from the earliest of times have reported freak waves of monstrous proportions, slamming into their ships sometimes causing massive amounts of damage and perhaps sometimes sinking them with little or no warning. For many years, these waves were thought to be mythical in nature and that there must have been some other logical explanation for the damage inflicted upon these ships or their sudden disappearance. It wasn’t until the last few decades that the answer was finally discovered; they are most certainly real. I wasn’t sure myself…
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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. While training in her glider, two…
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