Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

http://m.phys.org/news/2015-12-upside-do...tning.html

Ground to cloud lightning strikes go in the direction opposite usual.  Out-of-the-blue lightning strikes are ground-to-cloud strikes.  One of those ruined much of my electronic equipment a over a decade ago.  The silence of the early morning hours was interrupted by the deafening explosion of the bolt.

That was just one time I had sustained lightning damage. The other time my television was damaged. That wasn't a direct strike that time, because I heard a pop inside the TV. The bolt must have been far enough away to hear the electrical arc inside the TV. After that, I disconnected the outside antenna.

What a unpredictably biased or selective mess those occasions can sometimes be. When staying temporarily at a cabin in the woods, with scattered popping noises transpiring through the room at the relevant moment... I'll never forget how the usb port system of a netbook got fried by those lightning disturbances, despite the netbook not being connected to anything. While a variety of other electronic items (including a television) survived without damage while connected to power outlets, an external antenna, etc.

Lightning is strange like that. I worked as an electronics repair technician for quite a while. Often the damage was in very strange places inside customers' equipment that was lightning damaged. It was often impossible to fix those things.