lightning

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1 Dead, 9 Hurt as Lightning Strikes NASCAR Raceway

Race was cut short, but bolt hit parking lot

(Newser) - A NASCAR fan was killed and nine others were injured yesterday when lightning struck the parking lot behind the grandstand of Pennsylvania's Pocono Raceway. One of the injured was in critical condition. The race was called early because of stormy weather. A witness said that he and a friend...

Lightning Starts House Fire, Kills 2

Kentucky thunderstorms causing trouble across state

(Newser) - Lightning struck a home last night during powerful storms in Louisville, and the resulting fire killed a bedridden elderly man and his granddaughter. The woman was trying to get her grandfather out of the house, CNN reports. "Lightning struck an 80-foot-tall tree, hit about 40 feet up, and it...

Twitterverse Hails Massive NYC Storm With Boffo Pics

Millions transfixed by weather

(Newser) - New York City's 100-degree heat finally exploded yesterday in a spectacular rainstorm that spawned " ground-shaking " thunder, hail, high winds—and spectacular photographs that ricocheted across the Twitterverse and Facebook like lightning itself. Photos of massive clouds, quarter-size hailstones, drenched city streets, and a flooded Penn Station joined...

Gadgets Double Cost of Lightning Strikes
Gadgets Double Cost
of Lightning Strikes
study says
Jun 25, 2012 12:40 PM CDT

Gadgets Double Cost of Lightning Strikes

Strikes are down, but cost to replace high-tech items is up: study

(Newser) - Between 2004 and 2011, the total number of insurance claims paid out for lightning strikes dropped by one-third—so why, during the same time period, did the cost of those claims almost double? Simple: new gadgets that are susceptible to power surges. As TVs get more high-tech and computers or...

Day 1 as French President: Lightning Hits His Plane

What a way for Francois Hollande to start his term

(Newser) - Francois Hollande started off his new job as president of France with a bang: His plane was hit by lightning today en route to Germany. It was forced to return to Paris, at which point Hollande boarded a second plane and will be about an hour and a half late...

1 Killed When Lightning, Wind Hit St. Louis Beer Tent

200 people were celebrating Cardinals' 7-3 win over Milwaukee

(Newser) - One person died and 100 were injured, five seriously, when a sudden storm destroyed a beer tent where 200 people had gathered after a St. Louis Cardinals game yesterday, reports the Post-Dispatch . Sudden winds of about 50 miles per hour ripped through the tent behind Kilroy's Sports Bar for...

Mega Millions Ticket Buyer Struck by Lightning

What are the odds?

(Newser) - A Kansas man who quipped to a pal that he was more likely to be struck by lightning than to buy a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket turned out to be exactly right. Unlucky Bill Isles, 48, was struck by a bolt of lightning in the backyard of his Wichita...

Tourist Drops Dead After Grand Canyon Lightning Strike

5 others injured as bolt blasts ground nearby

(Newser) - A German tourist dropped dead seconds after a lightning strike at the Grand Canyon. Five other people in the woman's travel group were treated for minor injuries when the lightning hit the ground near where the group was standing. The flash didn't appear to directly strike anyone. Rangers...

18 Students, 1 Teacher Killed by Uganda Lightning

Strikes have killed at least 34 in recent weeks

(Newser) - Eighteen students and a teacher died after lightning struck their school in Uganda's midwest, police say. An additional 51 students between the ages of 7 and 16 were injured in yesterday's incident at the Runyanya primary school, about 160 miles west of Uganda's capital. Another school 200...

Lightning Kills Mom and 4 Kids
 Lightning Kills 
 Mom, 4 Kids 
Mar 11, 2011 12:13 AM CST

Lightning Kills Mom, 4 Kids

Father was away at work

(Newser) - A mother and her four children were struck dead by lightning when a bolt struck their thatched home in South Africa. Busisiwe Mdluli, 36, dropped dead alongside her children, ages 6 months to 12 years old. Three other children survived but were badly burned. The father was away at work...

Beloved TV Star Giraffe Killed by Lightning

He's found dead at South African game preserve

(Newser) - A beloved TV star giraffe has been killed by lightning on his South African reserve. Hamley, 7, has been a feature for the last 5 years in the popular ITV British series Young at Heart about a veterinarian and his family moving to Africa to start a game park. "...

Lightning Kills Woman Minutes Before Proposal

Tragedy strikes couple hiking in North Carolina

(Newser) - It was supposed to be the perfect day, even though it was raining on and off. Richard Butler had invited girlfriend Bethany Lott on a hike—and had an engagement ring tucked in his pocket. But as the Knoxville, Tenn., couple walked along the North Carolina trail, a storm rumbled...

The Most Common Phobias
 The Most Common Phobias 
happy halloween
Oct 31, 2009 3:07 PM CDT

The Most Common Phobias

Don't like spiders and snakes? Join the club!

(Newser) - In honor of Halloween, LiveScience reveals the most common phobias. If you still need a costume, you'll scare the most people by playing on their evolutionarily sensible fear of creatures with venomous fangs. The top terrors:
  1. Snakes
  2. Spiders and other "creepy crawlies"
  3. Places that are difficult to escape, such
...

Weather Pushes Back Shuttle Launch Again

(Newser) - Lightning and thunderstorms in Florida today forced NASA to postpone the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, Space.com reports, the fifth delay for the mission. Officials are now looking at approximately 6:25pm EDT tomorrow, though there’s a 60% chance of bad weather; the forecast looks better Wednesday,...

Only Certainty in Air France Crash: Catastrophic Failure

(Newser) - We might never know what brought down Air France Flight 447 early today, but aviation expert Miles O’Brien believes it was either an exceptionally unlikely event or a series of cascading failures, he writes for True/Slant. A lightning strike, widely reported as a factor, could only have sent the...

Lightning Predicts Hurricane Intensity: Study

It may be useful in hurricane forecasting

(Newser) - A day before the gustiest part of a hurricane hits, nature sends a warning sign via lightning, researchers tell USA Today. A study of Category 4 and 5 storms yielded a strong correlation between the hurricanes’ intensity and lightning, making the latter a powerful gauge for places that don’t...

Man Asks Heavens to Settle Dispute, Lightning Strikes

Waves iron bar at sky instead of paying up

(Newser) - A man in China's Fujian province got a shock when he asked the heavens to settle a score, CCTV reports. When a friend demanded an old debt be repaid, the man brandished an iron bar at the sky, swore he had never borrowed the money, and asked the gods to...

8,000 Lightning Bolts Spark California Fires

44,000 acres burn in 700 blazes

(Newser) - Thousands of lightning strikes over a wide swath of Northern California ignited more than 700 wildfires that have burned some 44,000 tinder-dry acres of grassland, brush and forest. Firefighters managed to protect most homes in almost all of the fires. The historically bad fire season has been spurred by...

Wildfires Tamed in Calif., Rage in NM

2K people still evacuated in Santa Cruz County

(Newser) - Firefighters almost completely contained a Northern California blaze today as fires in New Mexico threatened to spread, buoyed by lightning and high winds, the AP reports. The California fire, in Santa Cruz County, has leveled up to 15 homes and led to the continued evacuation of 2,000 people. Officials...

FAA Questions American's Lightning Safety

Mechanics grumble after airline stops inspections

(Newser) - The FAA is questioning American Airlines' new policy on lightning inspections, and its opener is: Why doesn’t American do them anymore? American recently forbade its mechanics from doing extensive lightning damage checks unless pilots suspected a strike, a move designed to reduce delays and cancellations. Big airlines are typically...

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