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[Lizzie Zoom]

Do you remember the Beatles lyric "four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire" in the song A day in the Life from their 1967 Sgt Pepper's Album?

Well.............the weather people are telling us there have been 100,000 lightening strikes over the last few days, mainly in the South.  Like with the 4,000 holes in Blackburn, how do they know?

Does someone, or a whole crowd of people across the country actually sit counting them?

I await your interesting comments, with humour please!!

[Bigron]

Not directly related to your question, Lizzie, but in a previous life, when I worked on aerial research on government contract, I was working at opposite ends of a field with a colleag, he on simulated lightning to test something, and I on another project: no details, as it was Classified and may still be - I do not want to be shot at dawn!

My colleague charged up a large bank of capacitors in parallel, then switched them to being in series, to achieve a very high voltage. This he then applied to the aerial under test to see if it could cope.
When he threw the switch, I heard him YELL loudly enough to wake the dead.
I felt the tingle on my ground plane about 200 yards away where I was working.
What had happened was that a lot of the energy entered the groiund, then up the metal chair that he was sitting on!!
Er, his family jewels had suffered (not terminally) and he insisted on showing me the scorch marks on his plums!

Back in the Lab, we laughed about it all day and never forgot it. 

Ron.

[zirk]

They measure and record log them using Radio Technologically, out of interest if you listen to the noise inbetween Stations on Long Wave you can hear Lighting Strikes even though they could be happening thousands of miles away.

[Lizzie Zoom]

They measure and record log them using Radio Technologically, out of interest if you listen to the noise inbetween Stations on Long Wave you can hear Lighting Strikes even though they could be happening thousands of miles away.

Thanks for that zirk

[Lizzie Zoom]

Not directly related to your question, Lizzie, but in a previous life, when I worked on aerial research on government contract, I was working at opposite ends of a field with a colleag, he on simulated lightning to test something, and I on another project: no details, as it was Classified and may still be - I do not want to be shot at dawn!

My colleague charged up a large bank of capacitors in parallel, then switched them to being in series, to achieve a very high voltage. This he then applied to the aerial under test to see if it could cope.
When he threw the switch, I heard him YELL loudly enough to wake the dead.
I felt the tingle on my ground plane about 200 yards away where I was working.
What had happened was that a lot of the energy entered the groiund, then up the metal chair that he was sitting on!!
Er, his family jewels had suffered (not terminally) and he insisted on showing me the scorch marks on his plums!

Back in the Lab, we laughed about it all day and never forgot it. 

Ron

He had a near miss!

It reminds me of my father telling me about watching one man climb up to the area around radar equipment on the Royal Navy warship he was on back in the 1950s.  Everything was live to the tune of many tens of thousands of volts, but he moved around in the danger area where normally you would be roasted.  The radar technicians could not believe it as he climbed back down unscathed, telling my father on the bridge that he should have died.  Once again, if your number is NOT up...............

Just like those struck by lightening who survive when many do not! 

[Rods2]

When I was an MOD electronics apprentice, we were taken on a tour of our airfield radar tower. While we were being told about the wave guides at the top of the tower we were told if the radar was accidently turned on while we were there, it was unlikely any of us would be having any kids.

[Bigron]

Roast chestnuts! 

Ron.