Lightning over the Vale of Ffestiniog

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Rory
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Yes
...hoping that Faraday's cage theory worked if there was a stray bolt

Not forgetting the four big rubber thingies on the wheels acting as insulators! ;)

Great shots BTW.
 
Absolutely superb photographs, well done for making the effort to get out and take pictures rather than watching from home.
 
A fantastic set. Excellent location too. I assume it wasn't raining at your location although I see a distant rain curtain in the first shot and the third one.

Also enjoyed a browse through your Flickr photos.
 
Not forgetting the four big rubber thingies on the wheels acting as insulators
Those are the problem, they tend to catch fire! If the lightening has made it through a few thousand metres of air, a few inches of rubber isn't much of a problem.
 
Good idea re staying in the car. I am terrified of lightening so bravo from me for braving it.

Your post caught my eye,Steve .When I hear people say that they are frightened of thunderstorms I wonder why. The reason I say this is fear often comes from childhood experiences.. I'm at the other end of the spectrum to yourself. I not only love to see them (I've been out earlier this evening as we had storms pass through about 6.00pm heading west) ..but spent 8 yeas going to the US to photograph the . and just the storm cloud structures.Unbelievably, if I mention it to some people they ask if I;m not frightened. What an utterly stupid question. I mean, I wouldn't travel up to 4700 miles (as New Mexico was included sometimes) if I was frightened.:rolleyes:

Here's why, I'm sure. As a small kid 4,.5, 6 years old where we lived was a hill (overlooking the river Mersey)..and we lived on a road half-way down it to the one side and it was covered in purple heather. I know that the parents of a couple of friends shut the windows and one drew the curtains... that instills fear in a child. Not so with my parents. They sat me and me younger sister on the front bedroom window sill to watch them and I have clear memories of seeing the lightning and the hillside purple heather light up at night. It was exciting. At 18, as soon as I had a car and I was able to drive towards storm clouds (30-40 miles sometimes) I did but back then no-one,myself included, had heard of storm chasing but that's what I was doing. I still have the B &W (film) photos of towering Cb clouds .It became popular when people saw the US storm chase documentaries on TV, especially the ones involving chase companies.
 
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Your post caught my eye,Steve .When I hear people say that they are frightened of thunderstorms I wonder why. The reason I say this is fear often comes from childhood experiences.. I'm at the other end of the spectrum to yourself. I not only love to see them (I've been out earlier this evening as we had storms pass through about 6.00pm heading west) ..but spent 8 yeas going to the US to photograph the . and just the storm cloud structures.Unbelievably, if I mention it to some people they ask if I;m not frightened. What an utterly stupid question. I mean, I wouldn't travel up to 4700 miles (as New Mexico was included sometimes) if I was frightened.:rolleyes:

Here's why, I'm sure. As a small kid 4,.5, 6 years old where we lived was a hill (overlooking the river Mersey)..and we lived on a road half-way down it to the one side and it was covered in purple heather. I know that the parents of a couple of friends shut the windows and one drew the curtains... that instills fear in a child. Not so with my parents. They sat me and me younger sister on the front bedroom window sill to watch them and I have clear memories of seeing the lightning and the hillside purple heather light up at night. It was exciting. At 18, as soon as I had a car and I was able to drive towards storm clouds (30-40 miles sometimes) I did but back then no-one,myself included, had heard of storm chasing but that's what I was doing. I still have the B &W (film) photos of towering Cb clouds .It became popular when people saw the US storm chase documentaries on TV, especially the ones involving chase companies.

It probably does come from childhood experiences...although I am scared of a lot of things....certainly more than most 35yr old blokes.

Some notable ones - attacked by a dog when I was a kid...petrified of them to the extent when I book hotels etc abroad I will always choose one that isn't dog friendly to avoid them. If I see a dog being walked I cross to the other side of the road at the safest opportunity and chose my walking routes around ways to avoid dogs should I encounter one off or on the lead. I simply cannot bear the things and cannot stand to be near them. If it is one thing I could undo from modern western culture dog ownership would be very near the top of the pile after drugs and alcohol and football. I am also terrified of wasps, toadstools etc yet never been stung by a wasp or poisoned by a mushroom on the ground. I just find them irrationally scary. Don't even go there with snakes, big spiders etc.

Lightening - though - no. No real experiences of them as a kid as they are pretty rare here - but I remember my parents saying to me they are dangerous and 20000 volts worth of power from the sky isn't a good thing. I tend to stay indoors and safe - same from high winds etc. I just find bad weather (high winds and strong heavy rain) very unsettling and don't like to be out and about in it. And I do not like the snow either :D
 
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Sorry to read about all those fears and dislikes, Steve.

Your parents were almost right re. lightning but it’s amps rather than volts. Generally 30,000 amps. Volts..?..Generally 300 million Volts but can be up to a billion. Home is 230/240 and 60-100amps. Respectively...(EU standardised 230 in 2003). They are right,of course, about it being dangerous. The danger ,on my US storm chasing wasn’t from tornadoes but lightning. We experienced one too close for comfort ..or rather safety, on one occasion and the thunder was an immediate Very loud, sharp crack. We were told to get back in the van at the double..lol. . We moved further away to observe the storm.

I think people who have been bitten by a dog will,understandably be,at least, very wary. It can be traumatic especially a childhood experience. I’d never trust a small child being too near a dog. I would never eat wild mushrooms for fear of choosing a toxic one. We get ours from Sainsbury’s..lol. The Western Isles get some great Atlantic storms..not great for you, I appreciate. I enjoy stormy seas too and have good photos from Porthleven, Cornwall and Porthcawl..Wales. I don’t like high winds either, a pain in the backside. You see nothing but the damage. You’re more likely to see snow than down here.

Any real fears ? Yes. Acrophobia..mistakenly called vertigo. That’s the symptom. I was ok until 40,then one day at the top of the Cheddar Gorge viewing platfirm..14m high. strong fear. Strange as I used to go up 48m high towers at Shell no problem. As they say in the US...go figure..lol.
 
Sorry to read about all those fears and dislikes, Steve.

Your parents were almost right re. lightning but it’s amps rather than volts. Generally 30,000 amps. Volts..?..Generally 300 million Volts but can be up to a billion. Home is 230/240 and 60-100amps. Respectively...(EU standardised 230 in 2003). They are right,of course, about it being dangerous. The danger ,on my US storm chasing wasn’t from tornadoes but lightning. We experienced one too close for comfort ..or rather safety, on one occasion and the thunder was an immediate Very loud, sharp crack. We were told to get back in the van at the double..lol. . We moved further away to observe the storm.

I think people who have been bitten by a dog will,understandably be,at least, very wary. It can be traumatic especially a childhood experience. I’d never trust a small child being too near a dog. I would never eat wild mushrooms for fear of choosing a toxic one. We get ours from Sainsbury’s..lol. The Western Isles get some great Atlantic storms..not great for you, I appreciate. I enjoy stormy seas too and have good photos from Porthleven, Cornwall and Porthcawl..Wales. I don’t like high winds either, a pain in the backside. You see nothing but the damage. You’re more likely to see snow than down here.

Any real fears ? Yes. Acrophobia..mistakenly called vertigo. That’s the symptom. I was ok until 40,then one day at the top of the Cheddar Gorge viewing platfirm..14m high. strong fear. Strange as I used to go up 48m high towers at Shell no problem. As they say in the US...go figure..lol.
That's about my only non fear. Heights. They don't phase me...but aircraft do lol
 
I once saw a young oak tree that had been hit by lightning a few days before. The bark had been blown off the trunk and was draped in strips over other trees up to 20 feet away; even if the lightning bolt itself didn't kill you, if you'd been standing nearby then the flying bark shrapnel would have probably made chips of you! It was amazing to see the result of that strike, the sap beneath the bark must have boiled to steam in an instant to release that amount of explosive energy. As usual in the pre smart-phone days, I didn't have my camera with me to record the spectacle!
 
Very nice set! I had my first go imaging a Thunderstorm a month or so back. It's the most exhilarating experience I've had photographing the landscape!

Hard to pick my fav as I like the sky in #2 the best and the land in #1!
 
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