[dudley]

Yesterday in Bridgeport one man was killed and three injured when lightening struck the jetty they were fishing
LINK
Not that I don't respect lightning, but I don't always run for cover at the first flash either.
The news story reminded me of a day on the bridge in the picture below.
On a dropping tide large stripers will sit in the outflow of those culverts and feed on herring. The locals are well aware of this and line up across the flow. A fly fisherman would not be welcome during prime time.
One day we were having our lunch and watching the action when a thunderstorm came up and surprisingly, all the fishermen left and the bridge was empty
I couldn't help myself and took advantage of the situation, fishing during the crashing thunder and downpour. I caught a couple of nice fish that day and have always thought that I made a good call fishing that outflow when I had the chance.
Today, after seeing this news, I'm questioning the sanity of my actions that day. While there's hills on both sides of that flow, I was definitely the tallest thing in the immediate area.
If the same situation came up today, I think that I might stay in the car instead of out in the rain, swinging a 9' lightning rod.

[iClimb]

yikes, ya lightning can sure be scary...I'm doing Franconia Ridge in a few weeks and keep reading about the lightning warnings in the summer because of the exposure the ridge has. Nothing to mess around with for sure.

[3/4 time]

We were on the shore of Allagash Lake late one night during a lightening storm, about 30 yards back from the water and in an area sheltered by trees. There was one of the worst lightening storms either of us had ever encountered going on out side our small Eureka two-man tent. The rain was coming down extremely hard and the thunder seemed to be nearly a continuous crashing roar. We were laying on our 1.5 inch self-inflatable sleeping pads with water running into the corners of the tent. One bolt hit so close it was like the flash from a camera went off in our faces and the simultaneous concussion momentarily flattened the tent. The impact took our breath away. That was close. I can’t imagine actually being struck.

[iClimb]

3/4 time - closet I've been to a strike was when I was younger - we had a huge, old maple tree 15 ft from the back of our house near the deck. A decent thunderstorm was rolling through and CRACK lightning hit the tree. It was SO loud! Sounded like it hit the house...my parents were searching everywhere to see if there were any fires or damages - we could smell the ozone.

The next day I walked onto the deck and this huge maple was completely split down the middle and black down the split.