Theory of a Big Bang: Johnny Galecki Struck by Lightning

Jul 27, 2011; 11:50 AM ET

The CBS Late Show has an interview with Johnny Galecki (available on my Facebook Page and below) telling his harrowing tale of (nearly) being struck by lightning while hiking in Yosemite National Park recently:

Although his account is amusing, he is a very lucky man, as few live to tell his tale. From what his Astrophysicist friend said, it sounds like Johnny became an “upward leader” or “positive streamer.” To borrow this (cheesy) animation from WikiPedia, he was one of several red lines that ended up not connecting with the blue line. Lightning “searches” for a path that will ground its charge most efficiently, and Johnny is lucky that something else proved better.

If he was indeed a streamer, then he is one of the few people who have survived without injury very near a lightning strike. Catching a positive streamer on film is extremely rare; ironically, a photo taken in 1984 by another Johnny (Autery) is one of the most famous “streamer” photos – showing two upward streamers that didn’t connect with the final lightning strike. A couple storm chasers have done it, in fact I blogged about the photo below that appears to have shown a streamer last year (most photos that claim to show them are actually showing “ghost lightning).

Since the interview doesn’t say when the event took place, I can’t pull a lightning data map, but it’s not uncommon to see lightning strikes in the Rockies during the Summer, sometimes from storms that aren’t producing much rain. Let this be a lesson to you, hikers. Carry a lightning detector and take shelter when you see ominous clouds. The next person won’t be so lucky.

In other recent lightning news, a new 3-D lightning sensor on a NOAA satellite may prove once-and-for-all whether there is a relationship between lightning (or lack thereof) and tornadoes. Below is an animation. More information is available in the ABC7 blog, but this area of study is still very young and some meteorologists are still skeptical.

Several years ago, I first blogged about the theoretical relationship in my “Lightning Seminar” series: the lack of cloud-to-ground lightning near severe weather events may in fact explain why storm chasers aren’t frequently struck by lightning.

For additional breaking news on lightning and other extreme weather, “Like” my Facebook Page.