Minnesota Driver Lucky To Be Alive After Car Struck By Lightning
The Minnesota State Patrol issued a post on Facebook (below) of a vehicle that was struck by lightning while on the road. The lightning strike happened around 4pm on September 19 in Lengby Minnesota. According to Sargent Jesse Grabow the car was traveling on Hwy 2.
The lightning strike apparently damaged the vehicles electronic system and completely disabled the vehicle and they were not able to get it started again. The trooper noticed a burn mark on the roof of the vehicle and part of the attachments on the roof were apparently blown right off.
The people in the vehicle said the lightning strike sounded like a gunshot! This reminds me of a memory I have as a kid when we were in the car driving on the highway during a pretty bad storm As I was looking out the window at the divided highway when I saw a lightning bolt strike a vehicle going in the opposite direction. I remember yelling to my mom and dad that the car on the other side got struck by lightning and my dad assured me that it can't happen to our car because we have really good tires which will ground any lightning. I believed it at the time, but apparently that is not true.
According to a science website:
Car tires do not protect you from lightning strikes. Although the rubber in a tire acts as an insulator at low voltages, the voltage in a lighting bolt is far too high to be stopped by tires or air. No matter how thick your tires are, they don't stop lightning according to physicist Martin Uman in his book "All About Lightning".
In some capacity you are protected being in a vehicle during a lightning as The National Weather Service Points Out, " a lot of vehicles with rubber wheels — including motorcycles, bicycles, open-shelled outdoor recreational vehicles and cars with fiberglass shells — offer no protection from a lightning strike." For more on this story click here.