Out of the Blue

9/4/2018 (Permalink)

When the dark clouds roll in and thunder begins to boom, we all know it's time to take cover.  As a rule, we have always been told, “if you can hear thunder, you can be struck by lightning.” You might think that you could never be struck by lightning on a beautiful blue-sky day, but this is a fallacy.  The first thing to note is that there are different types of lightning. The most common type of lightning is what we would expect.  It is “cloud to ground” lightning that you would see when those dark storm clouds appear.  However, this is another lesser known phenomenon known as “positive lightning”.  About one in twenty cloud to ground lightning bolts is positive lightning.  These bolts originate in the tops of positively charged storm clouds and reverse the charge of typical lightning bolts.  These bolts are far stronger than your typical lightning and can stretch out across the sky to strike nearly 10 miles from the origin of the storm. Although rare, this means that you could be struck “out of the blue”.  At SERVPRO of Mobile County, we want to help you be more informed about all extremes of severe weather that you can encounter.  Be aware of the weather conditions in your general area, not just directly above.  To stay informed about current weather conditions, you might want to consider downloading a weather app on your smartphone or device.  There are loads of resources out there.  For more information on recommended weather apps, CLICK HERE.