I'll be weathering this one. So to speak.

71-1085092892 · Post by **71-1085092892** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 8:57 pm

From here.

WATCHES/WARNINGS... A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT ON THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST FROM CAPE LOOKOUT SOUTH. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS NEAR 74 MPH ARE EXPECTED IN THE WARNING AREA SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

If the various servers are down, you'll know why.

Edited By GORDON on 1092532443

unkbill · Post by **unkbill** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 9:25 pm

Dam and I own a generator but you are so far away. But if the server is down sucks for all. Well I will have TV and AC and cold beer, sorry.

Post by **thibodeaux** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 9:58 pm

Didn't Catt say he was headed out to the beach this weekend?

Stay safe.

Edited By thibodeaux on 1092448800

unkbill · Post by **unkbill** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 10:06 pm

thibodeaux wrote:Didn't Catt say he was headed out to the beach this weekend?

Stay safe.

Uh yes he did. But if it comes to your neighborhood the bathroom walls are the strongest. The steel pipes(Sorry if you got plastic) in the walls tend to help hold the integrity of the walls. In either case keep your head down.
Im installing a 600 mile lead cord for my generator to Gordos house. I can just install a splitter.

71-1085092892 · Post by **71-1085092892** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 11:24 pm

thibodeaux wrote:Didn't Catt say he was headed out to the beach this weekend?

Stay safe.

Geez, that's right. They're already talking about evacuating the barrier islands.

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 12:18 pm

Catt's back, today was last day anyways, and we got up at 5:30 to beat the mandatory evacuation rush.

Prior to mandataory, it was "voluntary evacuation." Isn't every day a voluntary evacuation? "Looks like rain, I'm going in-land to shop"

71-1085092892 · Post by **71-1085092892** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 12:40 pm

Hatches are battened down.

My county is under a state of "Emergency."

Neighbor moved his cars out from under his two 80 foot pine trees. Wish I could move my house out from under them.

High winds are expected in 90 minutes.

71-1085092892 · Post by **71-1085092892** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 1:38 pm

Hurricane goes wwwwwwhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo........

71-1085092892 · Post by **71-1085092892** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 1:55 pm

I think it's over already. That was lame. Hurricane Charley is gay.

Edited By GORDON on 1092506393

71-1085092892 · Post by **71-1085092892** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 2:00 pm

Hey, here's more wind. Still not terribly impressed, though.

Post by **thibodeaux** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 4:13 pm

Glad y'all OK. Nothing here in Raleigh except a lot of rain and a light breeze. Didn't keep folks away from the gun show

71-1085092892 · Post by **71-1085092892** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 4:22 pm

Heh.

It's now bright and sunny here, and there hasn't been a lot of reported storm damage. Power is obviously still on. I wonder how far the city's 7pm cerfew is going to fly.... they keep saying it is still in effect.

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 5:54 pm

Yeah, nothing happened here, 'cept the mall and some places are closed.

On the other hand, I did get to kayak in the middle of a thunderstorm this past week. Once the lightning was under 3 mississippi it was a bit nerve-wracking.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 9:46 am

TheCatt wrote:Yeah, nothing happened here, 'cept the mall and some places are closed.

On the other hand, I did get to kayak in the middle of a thunderstorm this past week. Once the lightning was under 3 mississippi it was a bit nerve-wracking.

Yikes. It's supposed to be around a 5 second gap between lightning and thunder per mile, so that was pretty close.

I've always been curious about the dissipation of electricity in water. I used think that once it hit water it'd shoot in every direction, because a body of water would tend to have equal conductivity throughout most of its mass. So there's be a distance where the electricty would be dilluted enough that you'd only feel a tingle, and everyone that distance from the strike (in any direction) would feel about the same tingle. But then again, air tends to be equally conductive and lighting does take a definate path though that.

I know lightning spreads throughout the water to a small degree, just like it spreads some in as light and static electricity in the air. But if lightning hit a lake, would it spread out and dillute itself fairly evenly, or would there be "underwater lightning" with a definate concentrated path? In which case, three people could by kayaking and the one in the middle could be zapped while the other two were fine.

71-1085092892 · Post by **71-1085092892** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 12:44 pm

Pure water doesn't conduct electricity, you know.

Post by **thibodeaux** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 12:57 pm

Yeah, but a lake damn sure ain't pure.

Paul, I'd suggest reading this article about lightning..

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 1:16 pm

GORDON wrote:Pure water doesn't conduct electricity, you know.

I didn't know that.
Thanks for putting another bit of information I'll never ever use into my head. I wonder that big of info that replaced.

Uh oh... I forgot how to pee! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 1:27 pm

thibodeaux wrote:Paul, I'd suggest reading this article about lightning..

I glanced throuugh it. I was familiar with a lot of it. However, I didn't happen upon anything having to do with the trajectory of the lightning bolt once it hits a body of water.

I used to think lightning just spread out throughout the water, until it was completey dissipated. My current idea is that most of it continues to streak down to the earth where it gounds itself (though it does spread some when it hits the water).

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 1:41 pm

Well phooey on me.

This is the only thing I could find on the subject. It's sort of Mickey Mouse, so I wouldn't put to much stock in the scientific credability.

What if the bolt strikes the water near the animal? Lightning comes in all shapes and sizes. What if it's a lesser discharge? This gets tricky but it would probably harm her, at least. If she's down deep, though, she's safe.

When lightning strikes the ocean or other large water bodies, it spreads out over the conducting surface. It also penetrates down and can kill fish in the nearby region, says Don MacGorman, physicist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL).

Post by **TPRJones** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:12 pm

It depends entirely on the quality and distribution of dissolved or suspended conducting materials in the water.

"Pure" water (distilled and de-ionized, to be precise) is one of the best room-temp liquid insullators on the planet. My father used to run the Los Alamos Laser Fusion project for which they powered the laser with a man-made lightening bolt (using six tanks of capacitors big enough to swim laps in the oil) which they delivered down a 10-foot-diameter dual-pipe, the inner pipe containing ionized water to carry the bolt and the outer pipe containing de-ionized water to act as an insulator. It was quite a sight.

However, "pure" water only insullates for a matter of microseconds, after which it ionizes and starts to carry the charge.

As to the distribution, lightening in water follows the path of least resistance, just as in air. (FYI, this is me doing out-of-my-ass science again, so I may need correction from our resident scientist) Lightening can follow a straight path when the path of least resistance is a straight path, however the character of solutions in water is to be more uniform so that the lightening tends travel in water in sheets (which it can also do inatmosphere, but you don't see that lightening below the cloud level very often).

(If I need correction, I promise to not go nuts like last time. *grin*)