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Personally, I thought it was pretty BAD ASS watching this unfold this morning. I usually wake up at 3am and leave for work at 3:30, but I got up at 1:20 this morning just to sit outside and watch. What a great light show! We only get this stuff once a year, if that, so I soaked it in...

I personally was freaked out, I hate lightning! Way too close for me. I live in Oak View, woke me up and I could not sleep till about 3:30 when it stopped.

I thought it was bitchen !

I thought the lightning was well worth staying up for. My house is old and the thunder made the windows rattle. So I sat on the porch for a couple of hours oohing and ahhing to myself, counting the seconds to see how far away the lightning was. Out here in the east end of the valley it seemed as if there were lightning strikes in a circle... over the matilija canyon the topas topas and the upper valley. I'm kinda dragging a$$ now, us old folks prolly shouldn't be out so late.

I thought the lightning was well worth staying up for. My house is old and the thunder made the windows rattle. So I sat on the porch for a couple of hours oohing and ahhing to myself, counting the seconds to see how far away the lightning was. Out here in the east end of the valley it seemed as if there were lightning strikes in a circle... over the matilija canyon the topas topas and the upper valley. I'm kinda dragging a$$ now, us old folks prolly shouldn't be out so late.

Way too close for comfort for us! I, too, counted the seconds between lightning and thunder (not sure why). It felt like an earthquake sometimes. Couldn't go back to sleep so we watched the Olympics for a while. Today feels sultry, like I should be listening to Carolina beach music, drinking mint juleps and talking in a Southern drawl.

For those who may not know about counting seconds, it works like this: Sound waves travel through air at a little over a thousand feet per second, which means it takes about five full seconds to travel one mile. The light from the lightning is instantaneous, so if you count the seconds from the lightning to the thunder and divide by five, you will know how many miles away the lightning was. From where I am in the middle of town it seemed like most of the lightning was four or more miles away, but there were a few flashes a lot closer.

"bitchen"?

only Brian could make a sexist remark about an electrical storm!!

Here in the western part of the valley (south MO, MM), there were several lightning strikes within 1,000 feet (one second between flash and thunder). Those are the ones that sizzle and snap before the boom. Also, there were quite a few more within one-half mile. I measured 0.24” of rain, FWIW. I think that was the best Tstorm here since Sept. 23, 1994, and about as good as the one on August 6, 1990.

wow, Camille......

you either have an amazing memory or keep meticulous records of weather events!!

I enjoyed the lightning for several hours last night. We sleep outside during the summer and I couldn't sleep because the flashes were so regular and so bright. What an incredible electrical storm! But we didn't have any rain here in the upper valley after 9 pm.

From where I was, I could see flashes over the hill towards Santa Paula, down in the valley towards the east end, and throughout the upper valley as well. I really felt like it was coming from all directions. What a treat!

Mmm... do you think the storm was man made, manipulated to experiment with weather control?