Lightning kills man beneath cloudless sky

[Lynxus]

http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/147572.html

OR If down!

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A Dade landscaper died after being struck by an unusual type of lightning that's stronger, hotter, lasts longer and strikes from clear skies.

By TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE AND LUISA YANEZ

lyanez@MiamiHerald.com

David Canales died after being struck by lightning.

COURTESY WFORCBS4

David Canales died after being struck by lightning.

* On the web | Learn more about lightning safety

* Video Available Video | Lightning strike kills man

With no rain or even clouds to warn him of the danger, death came literally out of the blue Thursday to a self-employed landscaper. The killer was a powerful bolt of lightning that cracked through perfectly clear skies.

David Canales, 41, of West Miami-Dade, was on the job at a Pinecrest home when the bolt hit. It first seared a tree, then traveled and struck Canales, standing nearby.

Experts said Canales was killed by a weather phenomenon fittingly called a ''bolt from the blue'' or ''dry lightning'' because it falls from clear, blue skies. He was pronounced dead at South Miami Hospital.

Canales is the latest victim of one of Florida's least enviable honors: It's the country's lightning capital. Five of the 47 people killed by lightning across the country last year were in Florida.

Dan Dixon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, said that when Canales was hit, a typical afternoon storm was forming but nowhere near the area.

Weather data showed that lightning activity picked up north of Pinecrest shortly before 1 p.m., as a storm gathered momentum and swept through Coral Gables and then downtown.

''Most lightning will come from the base of a thunderstorm, inside that rain-shaft area,'' Dixon explained. ``But occasionally, what we call a bolt from the blue comes out of a thunderstorm still several miles away.''

The fair-weather bolts pack a bigger, deadlier punch and form differently.

Most lightning bolts carry a negative charge, but ''bolts from the blue'' have a positive charge, carry as much as 10 times the current, are hotter and last longer.

The bolts normally travel horizontally away from the storm and reach farther than typical lightning, then curve to the ground. This bolt struck the front yard of a home at 10500 SW 62nd Ave.

''My wife said the sky was blue, but the lightning bolt was the most horrible sound she had heard in her life,'' said Clemente Vazquez-Bello, owner of the home where Canales and two workers had come to do landscaping.

Startled by the violent sound, Margarita Vazquez-Bello ran to the backyard. The men were not there. Canales' workers were knocking on the front door, seeking help.

She dialed 911. Officers with the Village of Pinecrest and Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue arrived at the home. But Canales was in grave condition when transported, said rescue spokesman Lt. Elkin Sierra.

The Vazquez-Bellos rushed to South Miami Hospital, where Canales was pronounced dead. Canales' wife, also at the hospital, could not be reached for comment.

Vazquez-Bello said Canales was ''a wonderful human being'' and a dependable hard worker.

''We feel terrible about this,'' said Vazquez-Bello, a Miami attorney.

Dixon said protecting yourself from such unexpected lightning is difficult.

''They are very unpredictable and very dangerous. We urge people to stay indoors even if you hear thunder only faintly in the distance,'' Dixon said. ``If you're close enough to hear thunder, you're close enough to be struck by lightning.''

Earlier this month, a worker was hospitalized after being struck at a construction site in Miami. Nine people, including three children, were forced out of their Plantation home after a lightning strike caused a fire.

There has been at least one fatality in South Florida this year: A person on a roof in Miramar was killed by lightning May 19, Dixon said.

It's not the first time in South Florida ''bolts from the blue'' have proven deadly.

In August 1988, a Norwegian couple vacationing in South Florida were struck while standing on a Fort Lauderdale beach. Witnesses said the sky was cloudless.

Miami Herald staff writer Penny McCrea and researcher Monika Z. Leal contributed to this report.

[pottyprof]

That's why strike alerts have the 24-40 mile level.. The gadget was originally aimed at golfers. Florida is pretty much a golf state.

Lightning can and does travel many miles.

[johnholmes]

well, that is another new one for me. I've not heard of that before I have to admit although I can understand the physics explained by the USA weather man.

Once more I'll say it, you learn something new every day, don't be afraid to admit it.

[Dazza]

How bizzare is that!

[Greyowl]

Thats totally amazing.

[The PIT]

well, that is another new one for me. I've not heard of that before I have to admit although I can understand the physics explained by the USA weather man.

Once more I'll say it, you learn something new every day, don't be afraid to admit it.

Surprised you haven't heard about it John. It's been reported many times over the years. Read an article about it some years back.

[SnowJoke]

I knew lighting could strike you even if your not under a thunderstorm. I remember watching a program a few years ago on the discovery channel about lightning strike victims in the USA. Strangely enough it did involve a golfer who was sruck by lightning eminating from a thunder cloud roughly 10 miles away. Quite a distance looking at it in a human perspective, but extremely plausable when you think a thundercloud can be 20miles or more accross.

Snowjoke.

[BARRY]

it's a cloudless sunny day your grafting and thinking of that cool beer, and then wham your hit by a bolt out of the blue, is it unlucky no it's FATE.my thoughts are with his family.

[geri2k]

Wow! I take it that is where the saying 'A bolt from the blue' comes from.

Geri

[johnholmes]

Surprised you haven't heard about it John. It's been reported many times over the years. Read an article about it some years back.

no I admit not to having heard of it.

The only instance I had come across of the effects of a storm some distance away was from a debrief from an aircrew at Manchester around about the late 70's or early 80's.

A DanAir comet crew somewhere over Italy at 37000ft, with a storm visible some miles away, the anvil top was almost but not quite over them but no lightning within several miles from their cockpit viewpoint. The windscreen on one side was shattered causing decompression and the need for a rapid descent. On recovering from this they spotted huge lumps of ice, not at all like hailstorms on the cockpit floor. They got an air stewardess to put some in the aircraft freezer box and then brought it across to us. The chunks, the ones they managed to keep were several inches wide and about 6 inches long, at the largest, with a lot much smaller. But their aircraft report made clear they were well away from the storm, nothing showing within 5 miles on their radar, not much turbulence either.

Edited June 23, 2007 by johnholmes

[shuggee]

Could be a good QI question - where does the saying 'Bolt out of the Blue' come from? Like you John, new one on me <_<

[Tim B]

LIGHTNING STRIKE SAFETY FACTS

* LIGHTING CAN STRIKE 6 TO 10 MILES FROM LEADING EDGE OF STORM. 30% OF VICTIMS ARE STRUCK UNDER BLUE SKIES BEFORE STORM ARRIVES.

* 60% OF VICTIMS ARE STRUCK UNDER BLUE SKIES AFTER STORMS HAVE PASSED.

Note: This is a US statistic

http://www.spectrumthunderbolt.com/understanding02.html

[Louby]

I have learnt something new today

[johnholmes]

LIGHTNING STRIKE SAFETY FACTS

* LIGHTING CAN STRIKE 6 TO 10 MILES FROM LEADING EDGE OF STORM. 30% OF VICTIMS ARE STRUCK UNDER BLUE SKIES BEFORE STORM ARRIVES.

* 60% OF VICTIMS ARE STRUCK UNDER BLUE SKIES AFTER STORMS HAVE PASSED.

http://www.spectrumthunderbolt.com/understanding02.html

I am not convinced those statistics are correct, especially for the UK. The idea is correct but the stats seem a bit too much, again as I say for the UK.

[Tim B]

Quite right John thats a US statistic, I'll edit that in.

I just wanted to show the bolt from the blue distance thing.

Sorry about that.

[johnholmes]

no apology needed mate. I'll try and get something for the UK but not sure just where to look that is reliable.

[ANYWEATHER]

Well, ive never heard of that before! Im still a little skeptical of this story , but nature has a wonderful way of performing! Its nice to know that we as humans on this "know about everything planet" are and always surprized what nature can do! :shame about this guy! :huh:

[Trancemaster1966]

I remember reading about a man who was struck by lightning a few years ago on a golf course. According to witnesses at the time they said that the lightning "arced across the sky" from a cloud almost 15 miles away and struck him down.

I was walking home from work yesterday and a storm was in the distance. You could hear the thunder and my work colleague remarked that it was miles away and couldn't do us any harm when I mentioned this story.

Quite eerie that this thread has just appeared the day after. I'll be showing him this thread on Monday.

Edited June 23, 2007 by Trancemaster1966

[mac]

So thats where 'A bolt from the blue' originates - a new one for me aswell.

A few years ago I witnessed this phenomenon but I just didn't realise it at the time!

August, 2000 and we were on holiday in Orlando.

On the day in question severe thunderstorms were forecast for the area where we were staying.

My wife decided to go shopping, giving me a welcome chance to concentrate on the storms rather than adventure parks etc.

Right on queue a monster storm developed, severe even by Florida standards. Lightning was splitting the sky, forking in all directions, thunder a constant roar and the rain - as if someone had just turned on a tap. Eventually it moved away, much to my relief. I normally love storms but on that occasion it just wasn't any fun.

In the end my wife returned in the hire car, looking very pale. She's always been scared of lightning. She rolled down the window and asked me if it was all over. I can remember looking up at the sky - totally blue apart from one tiny cumulus cloud and telling her that it was safe and that the storm was over.

As she got out of the car there was a huge flash of lightning and immediate thunder - like a bomb going off :huh:

Since that day I've often wondered how such a tiny cloud could produce a huge bolt of lightning. Now I know - it came from the main storm which must have been miles away at that stage.

Needless to say that she's never let me forget it!!!

Edited June 23, 2007 by mac

[tom_f123]

interesting

[Schnee]

Very informative.

Does it happen here in the UK?

[Cookie]

gee wizz.

Im another one learning something new, any records of it happerning in the uk.

[Lightning Ed]

One of nasa's space ships was stuck on take off was it not several years ago? This originated from a storm 20+ miles away apparently. I remember watching a program about this how they now monitor storms from much further away due to incidents like this. It is very very fascinating indeed.

I was lying on my back in a park in Surrey with some friends probably about 8 years ago. It was a bright sunny day, a couple of small clouds about, but then we saw a flash of lightning in the sky. I never heard the thunder, and I would not have even noticed it had I not been looking. so I guess yes it does happen.

Ed

Edited June 25, 2007 by Lightning Ed

[paul tall]

This is exactly why I can't understand all these weather buffs that LOVE thunderstorms.......they are DEADLY. I see lightning, I hide, end of.

I nearly got struck by lightning in Kent many years ago, I won't be trying to go one better any time soon.

[Ross B]

This is exactly why I can't understand all these weather buffs that LOVE thunderstorms.......they are DEADLY. I see lightning, I hide, end of.

I nearly got struck by lightning in Kent many years ago, I won't be trying to go one better any time soon.

Cars are deadly, that doesn't stop people loving them. A lot of hobbies have dangers :unsure:

I seen the report of this on the news the other day then watched a report which explained it all on the weather channel, it was all very interesting although i do remember hearing something similar on the news a few years ago.

Just today a fireman was struck by lightning here in Florida, over 15,000 lightning strikes were detected over a 6 hour period and thats not even an active day...