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Explosive lightning strike The second week of August a
powerful lightning bolt, which witnesses described as "sounding like
dynamite exploding," damaged 13 homes in Mesa, Ariz. The bolt caused
extensive damage to the home it struck directly, and then traveled
to the other structures through underground wiring and wet soil. The
lightning's intense heat caused underground wires and cables to
explode, resulting in an eruption of soil that spewed dirt and
debris against homes, trees and parked cars. Areas around brass
doorknobs and locks were scorched. Firefighters who have seen the
aftermath of other lightning strikes over the years said that they
had never witnessed anything like the effects of this one.
Out-of-this-world weather analysis
A company owning and operating a huge parking facility at the
Croton-Harmon commuter train station north of New York City was
being sued in small claims court. The plaintiff was the owner of a
car that was damaged while parked in the lot on a day that flooding
took place.
While the amount in damage reimbursement being sought by the
vehicle owner was relatively small, at $550, there was concern by
the parking lot company owners that if judgment was found in favor
of the plaintiff, the "floodgates" could be opened for many other
lawsuits. Over 1,000 vehicles had been damaged by water in the
parking lot on that same day. Because of this concern, the owner of
the parking lot brought in their attorney, even though the case was
being heard in small claims court. Their attorney brought in Compu-Weather.
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 The key questions were: Why did such terrible flooding occur in
the parking lot, and was it something that the owners should have
reasonably expected to occur and prepare for?
The forensic meteorologist assigned to the case prepared an
in-depth analysis of the weather on the day of the occurrence, as
well as the preceding day. What it showed was that a ferocious storm
with very strong winds and heavy rain had moved through the area.
Rainfall for the two-day event amounted to more than 3 inches. A bad
rainstorm? Yes, it was. But not bad enough to explain the extensive
flooding that occurred.
Digging deeper, the meteorologist discovered that a rare
astronomical occurrence had taken place on the very day of the
storm. The occurrence was called the great syzygy. It is an event
that takes place only once every few centuries. Six planets in our
solar system were in alignment on that day, along with the moon. The
result of this alignment was that the tidal flow in the Hudson
River, which runs right next to the Croton-Harmon parking lot, was
running extraordinarily high that day. This much-higher-than-usual
tide, combined with strong west winds on the backside of the storm,
pushed water toward the east bank and caused it to come up over the
embankment between the river and the parking lot. That, on top of
more than 3 inches of rain, produced the massive flooding.
The report prepared by Compu-Weather was presented as evidence at
the hearing. Based on the fact that what had caused the flooding to
occur was so rare an event, it was deemed by the judge that the
owners of the lot could not have reasonably planned for such an
occurrence to take place. Thus, they were not held liable for the
damage that occurred to the plaintiff's car. In following months,
several other suits against the owners of the lot were heard, and
each time the verdict was for the defense.
[Compu-Weather] |
