JEEZUS! There was just a crack of thunder that scared the living s out of me.

[catbyte]

It was partly cloudy 10 minutes ago. I'm minding my own business with Sammy on my lap when all of a sudden it looked like dusk outside then the living room lit up and KERBLAM!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I will have a permanent scar on my leg where Sammy launched herself off of my lap.

Ouch.

We need the rain, but criminy.

[brewens]

1. One hit a tree about a quarter mile away one time. It was like someone threw a flashbang in the

yard. I was on the porch drinking a beer hoping to enjoy some rain in the August smoke season.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. My cat would be hiding long before thunder that I could hear

She creeps around on her belly - low-rider style - when she hears distant thunder and then hides under the bed. It’s like an early-warning system for the approaching lightning before I can even hear it.

[catbyte]

3. My cats are pretty blase about thunderstorms but this one came out of nowhere. No distant rumbles,

just crack, blam! Poor little Sammy still hasn't come out and it's been quiet for at least 10 minutes.

I used to have a tuxedo cat who acted like yours. The poor little guy would slink around at the first inkling of a storm coming, often before I knew one was approaching.

[Fla Dem]

4. Living in NE Fla, we've been having some epic lightning.

Here for 20 years. Never had such severe lightning. Same thing happened to me last week. Was holding my girl in my lap when there was a major flash of lightning and before it even registered, there was the loudest crack of thunder I’ve ever heard. Both of us jumped and she took off. Listened for emergency service vehicles thinking it had to hit something close by, but never heard them. Probably crashed in the ocean which is only 1/2 mile away. But WOW!

[mysteryowl]

5. Quick... hide under the bed!

[SCantiGOP]

6. That how the phrase "out of the blue" originated

Lightening can strike up to 6-7 miles from the cloud where it originates. So it is possible to have a strike when the skies above are cloudless.
If that happens, just give up and die. Nature/god/karma/whatever was out to get you.

[rurallib]

7. lightning hit my neighbors house directly across the street many years ago

4 in the morning. I was totally asleep and then it was like looking into the sun through my eyelids.
By the time I came fully awake the fire department was already there. Oddly I do not remember thunder although I am sure there was some.

My hair was sticking straight out from my head.

[Yavin4]

8. I woke last night to the sound of thunder.

How far off I sat and wondered.

[ailsagirl]

9. A few weeks ago there were HUGE thunderclaps very close by and it scared the hell out of me!!

I know it's harmless but it sounded like a BOMB
Cats dove under the bed immediately!!

It's rare for the SF Bay Area to have thunderstorms-- thankfully. I don't think I could ever get used to them.
Also,. unfortunately, they ignited a bunch of wildfires which are still being fought and not near containment (so the air is very dirty).

Wish we could get some rain...

[csziggy]

10. The last time I heard a crack like that, my cat came running in from outside

Soaking wet and freaked out. He hid under the covers with me so the bed got damp. Then about fifteen minutes later we heard another explosion but it wasn't a lightning strike like the first one.

The lightning had hit our old barn and caught it on fire. The second explosion was the tractor in it blowing up. The owner had just filled the tank with diesel which heated up until the tank burst. The tractor was completely destroyed - aside from the fuel tank exploding, the batter was a puddle of lead under the burned out chassis, the tires melted off the rims and all plastic was gone from the dashboard. Fortunately the guy who owned it had insurance on his six week old Kubota. Once he convinced the insurance company that the tractor couldn't be rebuilt, they paid in full.

The barn burned to the ground taking about 10,000 board feet of aged cypress wood that we had planned to recover - that stuff sells for about $7 a board foot. We saved two boards that had been opposite the water line - the brass valve had melted and the spray from the pipe had sprayed those two boards until the power was shut off. The boards are charred on the ends but have some good wood left. WE have a project in mind for them and may preserve charred parts with that.

The barn was a part of our history on this farm - we built it in 1978-79 just after we bought the place. A friend cut the cypress and had it milled for us. We will never be able to replace it as it was.

[catbyte]

11. Yikes. How awful.

It sounds like that was one helluva day for you. I'd be heartsick about all that wood and the memories lost. I'm glad you were able to salvage a little of it.

Oh, and 30,000 posts. Nice!

[csziggy]

12. Yeah, it was not fun

The worst was the moment the firemen told me the barn had burned. It wasn't until I confirmed that it was the old barn, which was being used for storage, and not the newer one with horses in it, that I could breathe.

If a barn full of horses burned I would have never been able to live with it.

[catbyte]

14. OMG. That would've been unthinkable. That puts things in perspective.

Now I'm relieved you just lost the wood. Whew.

[csziggy]

13. I didn't notice the post count! WOW! nt

[qwlauren35]

15. The other day

there was a clap of thunder while I was in bed and I went fetal. That's never happened to me before. Maybe a bit of a jump or startle, but not fetal. I was curled up tight as a ball. Took a few minutes to uncurl. A bit of shaking, too.

It wasn't THAT bad of a clap. I guess I didn't see the flash, so I wasn't prepared.

[lunatica]

16. That happened to me and my cat too

I literally jumped out of the armchair with fright. It was close enough that there was no initial thunder building up. It was like a bomb suddenly went off. It sounded like the crack of a whip turned up to an 11.

My cat understands a lot of what I say, so when I tell him it’s OK he immediately calms down, he jumped too and his eyes were huge! But he calmed down right away when I reassured him.