Is there a more violent and incredible force of nature than lightning? The damage it can do is mind-boggling, and if you're caught in the middle of an electrical storm, you can only hope it spares you.
Not convinced? Consider what happened to a Ford Super Duty recently. The truck, parked at a Ford dealership, was struck by lightning, and the damage caused gives an idea of how strong this natural phenomenon is. And no, we’re not talking about a new F-150 Lightning electric truck hammering one of its gas-powered brethren. An actual lightning bolt passed through the windshield of the truck and destroyed pretty much everything in its path.
From the outside, we see a cracked windshield. Inside, however, the scene is apocalyptic. The view from outside the driver's seat is of a blackened and melted interior, as well as a severely burned windshield.
Fortunately, the truck was unoccupied at the time the lightning struck.
The lightning bolt landed just to the right of the centre of the dashboard, “widening” the space between the glove compartment and the air conditioning controls. From top to bottom, plastic, stretched and melted by the heat, hangs from the upper storage compartment. Nothing was left unscathed in the lightning's path of destruction. Which is to be expected when a 300-million-volt force makes contact with an object.
As the truck was parked at a dealership when the storm hit, it was empty and not moving. Otherwise the result could have been worse.
But, you ask, isn't it safe to be inside a vehicle when a storm hits? Here's what the National Weather Service website explains about lightning and vehicles.
“A typical cloud-to-ground, actually cloud-to-vehicle, lightning strike will either strike the antenna of the vehicle or along the roofline. The lightning will then pass through the vehicle's outer metal shell, then through the tires to the ground.”
“Although every lightning strike is different, damage to the antenna, electrical system, rear windshield, and tires is common. The heat from a lightning strike is sufficient to partially melt the antenna of a vehicle and can cause what seems like a small explosion of sparks as tiny fragments of metal melt and burn. A portion of the discharge may find its way into the vehicle's electrical system and may damage or destroy electronic components, potentially leaving the car inoperable. The lightning may also find its way into the small defrosting wires that are embedded in rear windows causing the windows to shatter. Finally, it's very common for the lightning to destroy one or more tires as it passes through the steel belts to the ground. It's also possible for the lightning to ignite a fire which could destroy the vehicle.”
And that is it for today's weather lesson. You can guess that with the Ford Super Duty, something in the front attracted the lightning to go through the windshield to penetrate, which, you’ll be relived to know, almost never happens.
