El Jason
Well-known member
Post em up. I love finding trees that have been zapped. It’s impressive to see what it does and what they can survive.
Lightning Trees
- Thread starter El Jason
- Start date
Carl 9.3x62
Well-known member
marksjeep
Well-known member
I'll try to find a pic. There was a big Doug Fir that had the bark stripped and it looked just like a candy cane pattern. The FS put a Heritage Tree marker on it but some jackass cut it down for firewood. Wish I would have caught them. mtmuley
Hem
Well-known member
Wish I took a pic of a tree i saw years ago while bowhunting elk.
The tree fractured evenly and fell to the ground in a perfect circle around the stump. Kinda like " Pick Up Sticks".
It was so evenly arranged it was a bit creepy.
The tree fractured evenly and fell to the ground in a perfect circle around the stump. Kinda like " Pick Up Sticks".
It was so evenly arranged it was a bit creepy.
I've always enjoyed looking at lightning struck trees, but I have never taken a picture of one. The most impressive one was in a campground called Wrangle Camp. It was a giant Doug fir with a four-inch-deep, six-inch-wide scare winding down all the way from top to bottom. But the cool part was that the top of the tree was blown off and was lying on top of what had once been the camp outhouse.
My first thought was that it sure would suck if somebody had taken shelter from the storm inside that outhouse.
My first thought was that it sure would suck if somebody had taken shelter from the storm inside that outhouse.
BigHornRam
Well-known member
I had a couple ponderosa on my timber property get hit and the bark was stripped in a corkscrew all the way down to the ground.
One time my wife and I were going up the hill between Gardiner and Jardine, while camping at the Eagle creek campground. Just in front of us a lightning bolt hit, and when we crested the hill, there was smoldering sage right next to the road. We pulled over and tried to put it out, but it got into a pile of old wooden fence posts. We were going to go in town for dinner, so stopped at the FS station, and let them know. A guy was mopping it up when we returned.
One time my wife and I were going up the hill between Gardiner and Jardine, while camping at the Eagle creek campground. Just in front of us a lightning bolt hit, and when we crested the hill, there was smoldering sage right next to the road. We pulled over and tried to put it out, but it got into a pile of old wooden fence posts. We were going to go in town for dinner, so stopped at the FS station, and let them know. A guy was mopping it up when we returned.
WapitiBob
Well-known member
Saw a bunch when logging, never thought to take a pic.
Have some somewhere...have half a dozen pinions and junipers sagging and shattered here.
Watching a intense storm from a friends cabin in the Sierra's, a bolt went across the lake and hit a 12'dbh fir. Blew the center trunk out an it hit the cabin next to it. Destroyed that cabin.
The top came straight down and landed on the base (40' tall still),fell the other direction and cleaved another cabin in half.
20 cabins had damage from one storm.
Watching a intense storm from a friends cabin in the Sierra's, a bolt went across the lake and hit a 12'dbh fir. Blew the center trunk out an it hit the cabin next to it. Destroyed that cabin.
The top came straight down and landed on the base (40' tall still),fell the other direction and cleaved another cabin in half.
20 cabins had damage from one storm.
sapperJ24
Well-known member
Last one started two other snags on fire.
Caseknife
Well-known member
Ran across one big larch years ago on a ridgetop. There was an 8" square javelin about 10 ft long stabbed into the jeep road right next to it. Glad I wasn't up there during that storm!
Had lightning strike a big Ponderosa right next to our driveway. Our underground power is across the lane, same with the phone lines. The strike toasted our land line phones in the house and also our pump controller. You could see where the bolt spiraled down the trunk and then got to where the barbed wire fence was grown into the trunk and jogged over to the next wire and went down to ground. That tree died about 2 years later, then fell down in a windstorm.
Had lightning strike a big Ponderosa right next to our driveway. Our underground power is across the lane, same with the phone lines. The strike toasted our land line phones in the house and also our pump controller. You could see where the bolt spiraled down the trunk and then got to where the barbed wire fence was grown into the trunk and jogged over to the next wire and went down to ground. That tree died about 2 years later, then fell down in a windstorm.
Nameless Range
Well-known member
Kind of wild what happens to a tree when it’s hit by lightning.When trees are hit by lightning, the moisture in the tree’s cells flash boil to steam which expands, causing an explosion.
Was at my folks house when this one got hit in their yard. The meat from this tree was blown ten yards from the stump.
A got a handful of other photos, but they’re either not great or there’s smoke in them.
On a local ranch last summer:
Same ranch 5 days later. Different tree.
Was at my folks house when this one got hit in their yard. The meat from this tree was blown ten yards from the stump.
A got a handful of other photos, but they’re either not great or there’s smoke in them.
On a local ranch last summer:
Same ranch 5 days later. Different tree.
My next door neighbor has a huge white spruce with the same twist split. I will have to grab a pic, must have been lightning that did it.
LuketheDog
Well-known member
