For milkglassmao.

Point Loma : San Diego, CA.

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.”

Still attached.  Not toothpicks (yet).

Ouch.

The roof of my neighbor’s neighbor - covered in shrapnel. That far end of that roof is at least 50 feet from the tree.

So… I wasn’t joking last night when I posted these tweets:

@steelopus: HOLY CHRIST that lightning was so close that I genuinely felt a ZAP while playing guitar. I think I’ll unplug from the ungrounded 1950s amp.

@steelopus: Neighbor just called. One of the big ancient oak trees in his front yard has practically exploded where the lightning tore down the side.

The tree is about 20 feet from my bedroom.  That’s about as close as I ever want to come to lightning.
(That’s my dad, included for perspective on the sheer size of that beast of a tree).