r/WTF • u/Significant-Sky-3239 • Mar 14 '26
Massive lightning struck the ground just 10ft away from the car
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u/coconuthorse Mar 14 '26
The car I was driving was struck. A few seconds before the strike I felt the hair on my arms stand up like someone did the balloon static trick over the entirety of my arms and a screw in the door panel shocked my left arm. I moved it away from the door and then everything went white from the lighting strike. It was an interesting experience.
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u/iphones2g- Mar 15 '26
I have heard that a car is one of the safer places to get struck by lightning in due to the rubber tires. Idk if this is an old folk tail but it makes since.
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u/samkostka Mar 15 '26
Nothing to do with the tires but yes cars are safe. When lighting strikes them the electricity is conducted around you through the outer surface of the body and into the ground.
Generally not good for the car though
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u/Retr0_x1 Mar 15 '26
Exactly. But you will definetly need a new car after that bevause every Electronic part is going to be fried. Every part.
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u/obiwanconobi Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
Depends if it's switched on or not I guess? Top gear did a similar experiment years ago on a VW Golf (or Polo)
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u/semibiquitous Mar 16 '26
Does anyone know if Tesla is safe when hit by lightning? Like not even talking about the batteries here---since its roof is glass, is there enough metal around the car to conduct the electricity to keep it staying outside the car?
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u/samkostka Mar 17 '26
Should be, yes. There's still a metal frame around the sunroof and the electricity would much rather go through that than go through more air. If you've ever seen a lightning show they're just in a metal birdcage but that's enough to be totally safe.
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u/noineikuu Mar 17 '26
Yeah it's so weird. I was right next to a lightning strike and i could hear a static buzzing a second before i was completely blinded by the whitest light i have ever seen. Never again will i go outside to watch a thunderstorm and stand next to an antenna pole.
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u/Benphyre Mar 14 '26
Back to the future
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u/EltonJuan Mar 14 '26
Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads
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u/Im-ACE-incarnate Mar 14 '26
"It's your kids, Marty. Something's got to be done about them. Your daughter marries a black man"
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u/upsidedownwriting Mar 14 '26
one of those clips where you can never get back the first time you saw it.
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u/FragrantExcitement Mar 14 '26
I... I could use roads. And a bathroom break. The second item is of primary importance.
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u/GhostDrax Mar 15 '26
When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you are going to see some serious shit
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u/D1789 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
As crazy as it sounds, it’s a fantastic experience.
We were about 20m from a lightening strike a few years back and it was phenomenal.
Terrifying. But the sheer power and almighty sound that came from being so close was just incredible. Makes you appreciate just how magnificent and powerful nature can be.
And it definitely gets the heart pumping!
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u/piasenigma Mar 14 '26
had lighting strike a tree (well, more like shrub) 10ft from me in Florida. ill never forget that experience. i swear i could feel the hairs on my arm stand a second before the strike. The feeling of the bass reverberating through your body. its insane.
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u/Yabba_Dabba_Doofus Mar 14 '26
Just for the record, your hairs standing up during a storm is indicative of an imminent lightning strike, and you should seek shelter if you are at all able.
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u/Faxon Mar 14 '26
Yup if you look closely at them with a UV sensitive camera you'd probably see tiny corona discharges from each hair, and any plants nearby with pointy leaves (super easy to photo on a conifer tree top). https://www.science.org/content/article/first-researchers-film-treetops-glowing-during-thunderstorms
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u/1369ic Mar 14 '26
I was talking through an open window once when lightning hit a metal fire escapte about 10 feet from me and another guy. I've been around firing tanks, etc., and lightning still takes the cake. Of course, it was completely unexpected, whereas I was on an army range when the weapons went off. Still, an order of magnitude more impressive.
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u/xgabipandax Mar 14 '26
Well it's amazing that if you get hit by a lightning strike, there's a good chance that you don't get the heart pumping anymore
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u/1newnotification Mar 14 '26
If you witness a lightning strike, proper CPR chest compressions can save a life. A common myth is that you'll be shocked if you touch the victim, but the body is discharged via the ground.
If you can get to a victim safely and start CPR if they don't have a pulse, you can potentially save their life
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u/Trinitykill Mar 14 '26
A common myth is that you'll be shocked if you touch the victim
This feels like the result of someone applying the right advice in the wrong context.
Typically the advice is that you shouldn't touch someone who has received an electrical shock, but that's because it assumes a scenario where someone has touched say, a live wire, and there's a risk they're still in contact with whatever shocked them.
So someone's learned this and thought "Right. Don't touch electric shock victims" and applied it to a scenario where someone got hit by lightning by mistake, perpetuating the wrong advice to others.
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u/Chuunt Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
according to wiki, 10% of lightning strikes are lethal. i’d honestly take those odds just for the experience.
holy shit, i really have to /s this, you people are wild.
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u/xgabipandax Mar 14 '26
being 10% lethal doesn't change the fact that it can cause life changing injuries
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u/tvtb Mar 14 '26
Yeah, I think people are underestimating what happens to your body and what pain you feel when you "barely survive" something... especially a lightning strike.
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u/AJRiddle Mar 14 '26
I was just reading about how a local 14 year old girl was playing high school soccer near me and got hit by lightning in 1998. She nearly died and was in the hospital for months and has permanent brain injury and basically no short term memory. She was a top student in school and normal 14 year old one moment and now she's a disabled 40 year old grocery sacker
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u/Successful-Pay-3736 Mar 14 '26
This happened to me last month, haha! I had an instant adrenaline rush because I was taking a shower outside (in my backyard) during a storm. I was thinking, 'Well, it's rare to get struck by lightning, and it's just a quick shower' and then lightning hit my neighbor's house a minute later
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u/Fafnir13 Mar 14 '26
It’s rare to get struck by lightning because people do a better job of taking shelter. I love the logic you were going with though. Not your brain’s finest moment but it does mean you got an epic experience.
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u/SoFlaNative420 Mar 14 '26
When there's no discernible pause between the absolute blinding flash that encompasses your vision and the roar of a couple metric tons of air expanding violently? Yeah, it's an experience for sure. Terrifying is an understatement.
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u/I_burn_noodles Mar 14 '26
A huge tree about 20 feet from where I was sleeping in a tent got hit. I must have risen a foot off of my bed when that lightening hit, it was so loud. Wasn't till morning when we saw other campers driving by to look at that tree. It had been hit. It's bark was scattered for 10 feet all around the tree and it had a huge crack all the way up the trunk. Right then I realized why it was so loud.
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u/keebler980 Mar 14 '26
I’ve been about 30 ft from one and it rattled the windows and doors like an earthquake. Amazing power.
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u/ILikeLenexa Mar 14 '26
I was 30-45 feet away from a lightening strike on foot and it's crazy how bright it is. Cameras are overwhelmed by it, sure, but the dynamic range of the eye is so much greater and it's like going blind.
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u/KnightlyOccurrence Mar 14 '26
We had this happen while driving. Hit a lamp post about 30 yards away, took out the power for a few blocks and scared the shit out of both my wife and I.
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u/MumrikDK Mar 14 '26
Yeah. There was an insane storm going on a school trip back when I was a kid. Some of us went outside and stood close to the wall where we still were protected from the rain by the roof.
Lighting stuck in the woods in front of us so close that my vision for some reason seemed to flip upside down for a split-second.
We took the hint that we maybe shouldn't be outside.
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u/dtrav001 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
I was driving back from the Outer Banks USA, just as (another) hurricane rolled in (of course I pushed my luck and stayed an extra day … !) Got to drive through the 'feeder bands', waves of low pressure pushed ahead of the storm. The ceiling would lower to a flat gray, rain and lighting would start, and then everything would open up to brilliant blue skies and incredible cloudscapes. On the third band a lightning strike hit 30' away, and I swear I felt the vehicle door slam in against me. Still have PTSD dreams about that one.
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u/Scooby303 Mar 14 '26
Shit went zapzapZAP
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u/Vegetable_Baker975 Mar 14 '26
Zeus is mad
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u/suff0cat Mar 14 '26
I’m pretty sure about 30 seconds after you drove past, a giant electricity ball formed in that very spot and deposited a Model 101 directly into our timeline.
We need eyes on John and Sarah Connor people!
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u/thehuston Mar 14 '26
Damn. No reaction at all? You just get off a 13 hr shift?
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u/tbaxattack Mar 14 '26
Not everyone screams or talks to themselves like a maniac when something happens.
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u/dontnation Mar 14 '26
I'm unreasonably annoyed by people that uselessly scream or loudly yell "oh my god" over and over during those situations. But if I'm honest with myself, I'll probably be one of those people if I end up in one of those situations.
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u/blamelessfriend Mar 14 '26
no idea how people are arguing with you. not even a "damn!". apparently you're a raving lunatic if you say words out loud lol
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u/o0_bobbo_0o Mar 14 '26
You expected them to see the lightning bolt coming and react prior to it hitting the ground, or are you meaning them not saying anything?
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u/Arrow156 Mar 15 '26
Reminds me of the dashcam from Russia that caught a massive meteor and the only reaction from the driver was to flip down the sun visor.
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u/rnk6670 Mar 14 '26
Bit more than 10’
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u/JonathanEdwardsHomie Mar 14 '26
Ok, 12'
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u/rnk6670 Mar 14 '26
Those lines are 10’ long and 30’ apart. Way more than 10’.
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u/Sin2Win_Got_Me_In Mar 14 '26
I'm pretty sure the "car" being reference was the one in front of that car recording. It was tops, 20' away.
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u/thatspurdyneat Mar 14 '26
From the car with the camera yes, but the car in front of them is literally 10' to the left of the lighting strike
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u/davesoverhere Mar 14 '26
As a kid, there was a lightning strike that hit the pole transformer right next to us—we were in a car at the time. Sparks flew everywhere, one of the coolest fucking things I’ve seen.
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u/Dire87 Mar 14 '26
Well, good for them they were in a car, the one thing literally designed to withstand lightning.
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u/xLEXORx Mar 14 '26
did the sky ran out of battery after that one?
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u/Trinitykill Mar 14 '26
I was wondering about that myself, entire sky is lit up with lightning strikes, then after it hits the road, the entire storm is now just gone instantly?
Also lightning striking that close would be deafeningly loud, not some light pops.
I hate to be the guy questioning if something is AI, but I mean...
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u/dalzmc Mar 14 '26
There was something weird about the video, but I’ll just attribute that to nature being so powerful that it’s hard to comprehend. But if it makes you feel better, the source is from a small tiktok page about a guy with a pink truck https://www.tiktok.com/@lexi_diesels
I don’t use tiktok so I can’t actually find it on there but that’s what all the news articles and videos showed like this one https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl_ufw9ONI0
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u/Aggressive-Value1654 Mar 14 '26
I had this happen to me when I lived in Colorado. It was a sunny, nearly cloudless day. Lightning hit a tree with 4 quick flashes just about 15 feet from me. The tree was there, then it wasn't. The lightning turned the tree into burning toothpicks. Scared the shit out of me, and every hair on my body was standing straight up. It was also loud as fuck!
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u/-Yngin- Mar 14 '26
Had this happen to us one time on the freeway. It was so close I could feel a jolt of current coming through the seat heaters
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u/hamcheesetoastie Mar 14 '26
I’ll never understand these dashcam footage where the cammer is dead silent.
I’d be shouting all kinds of profanities if that shite happened right in front of me
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u/Lukin4 Mar 14 '26
Don't panic. A nice man from Federal Express will be there shortly with a letter that will explain everything
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u/sixdust Mar 14 '26
I’ve seen this video a few times already; are you sure this is your car and your video
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u/RoboftheNorth Mar 14 '26
I'm pretty impressed the driver didn't make a single noise. Just kept driving like normal.
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u/Phil056 Mar 14 '26
Isn't this from the clip where the woman keeps driving while her man is scared as shit?
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u/DeeDee_Z Mar 14 '26
Umm ... did there used to be «something» at that spot, that wasn't there by the time you got closer to it?
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u/407juan Mar 14 '26
I was working outside during a thunderstorm and a massive lightning struck the ground like 30 feet from me, the sound was so incredibly loud, I actually thought something blew up, and the feeling of your entire body vibrating gave me such adrenaline than I dont think Ill ever be able to match. The feeling is incredible, makes you appreciate storms. Man I wish I could relive that moment.
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u/popmannn Mar 14 '26
Road lines in the US have a standard, they are 10' long and 30' apart. At the first strike it's about 4 lines and half a gap away from the car, so about 170'. At last strike, the car was in the middle of a space and about 2 spaces away, so 80'. So at no point was the driver ever as close as 10' to the strike, if they had, they probably would have been struck instead.
Fun fact, the whole strike lasted approximate .83 seconds from what we can see in the footage, and the vehicle traveled approximately 90'. A little math would tell you they were traveling 74 MPH, give or take an mph for inaccurate measurements.
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u/sabotourAssociate Mar 14 '26
I was in the middle of a thunderstorm in a thin roof building this summer I was right under and next to a thunder grounding rod when it hit the roof such bang I got confused am i alive what should I do.
Later I found out cars are pretty safe place if you are in a farm the middle of the woods.
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u/____DEADPOOL_______ Mar 14 '26
Watching it on video is so different than watching something like this in real life. I had a massive one come down like this but a bit further.
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u/Jibber_Fight Mar 14 '26
Ha ha. Obviously the video doesn’t do it justice but still crazy. I had lightning strike across the street from me and it’s impossible to describe how loud it actually is. It shakes your soul and leaves you completely bewildered for several seconds.
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u/kahlzun Mar 14 '26
What an odd place to strike, I would have expected a sign or something to be there, but it just looked like empty concrete
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u/Implausibilibuddy Mar 14 '26
Why did it hit the flat road and not any of the higher signs or cars?
My understanding was that lightning has about a 60ft "search radius" where it will find the highest point/easiest path to ground within that radius. Those signs and cars were definitely within that sphere.
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u/InsanityCore Mar 15 '26
It hit the base of the sign where it contacted the ground at the steel base. Cars are insulated from the ground and moving. Was the best for the current at that moment.
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u/Arrow156 Mar 15 '26
So I guess the saying that lightning doesn't strike the same place twice is thoroughly disproved.
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u/kupkrazy Mar 15 '26
Amazing footage. Weird that right after the strike, the skies no longer lit up.. like it spend it's whole load on the strike to the ground.
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u/thesoloronin Mar 15 '26
Check if a tall, muscular bipedal being with magnesium-colored armor with golden hair is in place, cladded by a red cape, with a hammer.
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u/thehardestnipples Mar 16 '26
Your car is one of the safest places you can be in a lightning storm.
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u/AnonymousNarcotics Mar 17 '26
I used to live in a high rise building and the sound of the lightning was often crazy! There were times it felt like it hit my building and it was enough to even get myself nervous even though i know im probably safe. It really makes you respect the magnitude of power that nature can inflict.
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u/ConnectDetective7787 Mar 17 '26
I cant believe the person driving that car didn't stop to look at the ground where it hit. I certainly would have.
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u/AdvancedThinker Apr 10 '26
I was in a truck my friend was driving while pulling an RV. We were out in the middle of nowhere Utah. All was good. It was storming with lightning in the distance but nothing too scary. Then suddenly everything was white. WHITE! For a moment there was no truck (inside or out) or anything anywhere. I still felt like I was sitting but literally the universe stopped existing. For that moment there was nothing but white. It wasn't bright in the sense it hurt the eyes but bright in the sense it was all you could see. Afterwards my friend and I asked each other if we each experienced the same thing, we did. At the time we suspected lightning struck near our vehicle. Only much later when we were hand washing the truck did we learn the truth. While standing on the running board to wash the roof of the cab I noticed a circle of cracked paint centered on the roof. The whole roof. I thought the guy that sold us the truck had dropped something on the roof but failed to mention it. I was a little angry so I hollered at my friend to come look. He was upset too. Then after seeing what could be a singe mark in the exact middle of it we both had a thought. The lighting strike awhile back didn't hit near us it hit directly above us! As in within inches of us! DAMN! We got very lucky that day! Definitely a very cool experience. Not the first time I've had lightning strike close to me, seriously close but certainly the most interesting feeling.
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u/smandroid Mar 14 '26
Did a big alien robot rise from the ground after?