At first I thought there was a moth flittering in front of the wee lamp on the windowsill, causing momentary adjustments in brightness, then that it was the tattoo fireworks, then realised what it was and ran downstairs. At first I could see the flishes above the clouds to the south, then when I went into the garden the clouds were being illuminated from further above. Managed to get a bit of video for the sleeping children and finally got a shot of a spark from a series of 30" exposures out of the window when it had moved north. Surprisingly little rain accompanying it as it passed over.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
"Severe weather warning"
(7425 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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Lightning is a spark jumping a kilometre or two through air. Not sure it would even notice a strip of rubber in its way.
If the lightning was that bothered about an inch or two of rubber, it would just go around.
At any rate, rubber is just as good a conductor as air once its breakdown voltage is exceeded. The dielectric strength of rubber is about five times higher than air, but whether it's air (3 million volts per metre) or rubber (15 million V/m) makes no difference, because a good lighting bolt is about a billion volts, with a current of 100,000 or 200,000 amps.
What you don't want to be doing is standing near where the lightning hits the ground, because the electrons radiate away from the strike point and cause a difference in electric potential. The risk is that one of your legs is at a higher potential than the other, so the electricity goes through you as well.
Posted 6 years ago # -
It was bizarre last night.
I experienced the brilliance of a really impressive lightning storm. Heard some muted thunder. Felt very warm and clammy. Yet not a single drop of rain!
Posted 6 years ago # -
I didn't notice the storm last night. But there were some puddles this am, particularly around M'burgh
Posted 6 years ago # -
I was like a bairn last night. Lights off and head half out the window sniffing the air and watching the show. No rain here either, some sort of invisible misty drizzle slightly dampened the road but that was it.
I'm going to be disappointed if the storm predicted for later skips over us.
Posted 6 years ago # -
“It is not going off a cliff, it is like walking out into a minefield,” he said. “So the argument it is too late to do something would be like saying: ‘I’m just going to keep walking’. That would be absurd – you reverse course and get off that minefield as quick as you can. It is really a question of how bad it is going to get.”
Posted 6 years ago # -
I'm guessing I should probably not plan to be swimming in the sea under a lunar eclipse during a lightning storm?
Posted 6 years ago # -
OR it might be how you get your superpowers.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I like this idea a lot!
Posted 6 years ago # -
Look at this string of thunderstorms all down the UK:
http://en.blitzortung.org/live_lightning_maps.php?map=12
Red is old, white is new, so possibly the prospect of another good old fashioned clouds banging together has already passed.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@chdot, that is a spectacular photograph indeed.
The storms have reached Seahouses and Wooler, so we might yet see some electrical action.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Excellent!
Posted 6 years ago # -
Sparks in Dunbar and Gorebridge and Norberwick in the past few minutes.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I'm hoping the storm cell that's currently sparking over St Mary's Loch in t'borders makes its way north intact and energised.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Just seen a flash. The rain's coming.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Apparently Yorkshire was shut down yesterday
We missed it but so hot on motorway air con Sturgfling (sixi iN car) until thunder and rain. This has cooled it and bit of a breeze now.
All grass yellow in englandshire
Football is still coming home, they are just not sure when
Spotted two lovely De Rosa bikes on roof of a quite swish looking Skoda. They were swaying.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Hail.
Posted 6 years ago # -
It's 11 degrees out in Stockbridge right now. Met Office says "feels like 8". After recent temperature madness this means it feels like ffffrrrreeeeezing. Winter soon!
Posted 6 years ago # -
(Also I had planned to ride to Stirling tomorrow but, uh, do I HAVE to? Everything looks very wet from 10am onwards.)
Posted 6 years ago # -
I comfortably wore two layers (one of which was even water/windproof) whilst walking and carrying a bag this evening.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Phonecall: Your bike is ready for collection.
Me: "Thanks, I'll call by to pick it up in a wee--."
Outside: Monsoon rains begin
Me: "--tomorrow morning?"Posted 6 years ago # -
Fine now, bike shop still open?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Breezy
Posted 6 years ago # -
More than a month without an SWW.
Is it Autumn yet?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Gusts along the Broomhouse / Bankhead wind-tunnel this morning were so strong at times that they almost stopped me dead. I was struggling to maintain 10mph into the ferociously-funneled wind, and managed a mighty 11mph downhill whilst pedalling hard!
It's days like these that I really want an eBike for battling the headwinds (although the homeward leg will be superbly wind-assisted and it'll feel like effortlessly riding an eBike in Turbo mode)
Posted 6 years ago # -
(although the homeward leg will be superbly wind-assisted and it'll feel like effortlessly riding an eBike in Turbo mode)
Could stick it in regenerative braking mode and charge it for tomorrow.
Posted 6 years ago # -
It's days like these that I really want an eBike for battling the headwinds
I was riding my little purple recumbent bike today. My commute took 31 minutes door to door. I was working pretty hard and I was hot and tired when I got to work. In the torpedo it would've taken 23 or 24 minutes, or about a 25% efficiency advantage in these conditions. I would've been in the torpedo today, since the windier it is the better it goes, but I daren't park it outside on the footway in the evening when I have an appointment.
Posted 6 years ago #
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