They rally ‘round your family, with a bucket full of bark.

This is the last one, I promise!

An explanation of this phenomena:

“In most trees, the area just under the bark layer contains moisture in the form of sap and water. And since water is a better electrical conductor than wood, lightning striking a tree tends to travel just underneath the bark. The explosive expansion of the lightning’s return stroke will literally blast off the bark, and sometimes some of the wood, along the length of the lightning channel. The result is a visible scar along the trunk of the tree.”