lightning – News Stories About lightning - Page 5

Only Certainty in Air France Crash: Catastrophic Failure

ANALYSIS

Jun 1, 2009 6:00 PM CDT

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

Apr 9, 2009 11:44 AM CDT

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

Sep 2, 2008 9:22 AM CDT

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

Jun 24, 2008 2:19 AM CDT

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

Jun 21, 2008 6:35 PM CDT

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

May 16, 2008 1:40 PM CDT

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...

Lightning
Strikes Same
Man Twice

Jul 30, 2007 4:35 PM CDT

Lightning Strikes Same Man Twice

Unlucky double-victim draws 2nd zap on anniversary of 1st

(Newser) - A man celebrated the 27th anniversary of being struck by lightning with a second electrocution from above—and once again lived to tell the tale, the Guardian reports. The 68 year old was hiding from a Pennsylvania storm in a shed when he and four others were shocked by lightning;...

A Strike Against iPods: Lightning

Jul 12, 2007 3:32 PM CDT

A Strike Against iPods: Lightning

Tempting fate can cause permanent damage

(Newser) - The story of a jogger with Y-shaped burns, a broken jaw, and hearing damage ends in an important moral: Forget your iPod during thunderstorms and try singing in the rain. The metal in earphones—any earphones, not just the chic white buds—can conduct the electric current from a lightning...