[lilred0005]

We had quite the thunderstorm come through western Broward Co. tonite which got me thinking of the prevelence of lightening and thunderstorms in Florida. The Tampa area has the most lightening of anywhere in the U.S.. So, living with as much/many thunderstorms as we do, I was wondering what your opinion is on these storms. Do you love a good thunderstorm or do you hate it? Are you terrified of the lightening? I know a few ppl that are. Do you ever watch the storms roll in? How does this compare with other places you may have lived?

[Hialeah_Rules]

hate them but at least they drop the temperature

[rusty78]

I love to watch them...the best ever was one day while on a cruise...a storm rolled in and we were able to sit on the deck watching one lightening strike after another...simply amazing the amount of power and noise they make...I only wish I had a camera that day...

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by Hialeah_Rules

hate them but at least they drop the temperature

yep. Also, when they are the silent type (without much thunder and rain), they are pretty neat to look at out the window

[jsimms3]

I love the "mini-hurricanes" that come through in the summer every once in a while. People up here in Atl talk about tornadoes and severe storms all the time, but I have yet to experience something as crazy up here in my 5 years (living high up at that) as crazy as the 5 or so intense out-of-thin-air thunderstorms that FL gets every summer. In Jax, my house has been hit by 1 EF-1/2 tornado (back in 97, remember it distinctly), many a tropical storm or edge of a hurricane, direct lightning strikes, and many a storm with 60+ MPH wind, which is always incredible. We have also had 4 or 5 waterspouts right in front of our house. It's hard to compete with that kind of weather Last time I was in town, I was pulling onto 95 near the river in Jax, and there were some people walking around outside and a storm was coming but was still miles away. Out of the blue lightning struck a wire pole right in front of my car and right in front of the pedestrians (maybe 30-40 ft. away) and sparks went everywhere. It scared the crud out of me and I'm sure those pedestrians. Very awesome, though.

[Momma_bear]

I love to watch the storms from the safety of my house but I worry about the kids getting hit by lightning. All of the parks have lightning alert systems but they are not perfect.

[personalensign79]

I love them. I don't love much about living here but the summer thunderstorms are fantastic.

My dog, on the other hand, is petrified of them and I hate to see her shake like that.

[wacahootaman]

I like the cool down after the storms but I can do without all the lightning.

I live atop a high hill in North Marion county and have lost several trees and two horses to lightning over the years. My immediate neighbor lost 4 cows and the fancy horse farm down the road reported lost 11 prize foals to one lightning strike.

The livestock killed by lightning is not often mentioned by the Chamber of Commerce handouts about Marion County horse farms.

Even though I got a power company surge protector installed directly on my meter, I unplug the computer and stay off it when the thunder starts cracking.

I will come inside when it threatens too. The stuff is just too powerful not to respect it.

I once saw where it traveled down an underground phone line and exploded a 3 inch PVC water line next to it for over a hundred yards. The waterline was full of water and the phone line lying next to it was the pathway for the ligthtning. The water was instantly turned to steam and the pressure blew water line out of the earth into little pieces.

Thats powerful stuff!

[ChrisA70]

They don't bother me anymore. I just unplug every bit of my electronics. Lightning can get scary.

[Kevin from Tampa]

I guess I don't think about it...I just grew up with them....fact of life sort of thing...no big deal.