| > been damn close ... 30m > that your hair stands up ... is utterly false Please stop, 30m is not close. This is advice given in wilderness first aid training for possible warning of being hit not a 30m miss. I'm going to trust them over you. *edit: should also say that in my WFA they said you may or may not feel it, and if you do feel it you may or may not have enough time to react to it. The only reaction you really have is "lightning position" which is a tight ball of a crouch. Lying down completely is thought to be more dangerous, so don't go diving. Also I've seen lightning about 30m off as well, it struck the mouth of a wooded trail I was considering exiting, my eyes were focused on the exact spot it struck. Hesitation probably saved me, though it was blinding and deafening. Thunder that close is really something else, absolutely the most violent sound I've heard in person. |
For sake of comparison, The article says a lightning strike releases about 500 MJ of energy. Wikipedia says a "standard" stick of dynamite contains about 1 MJ of energy[0]. In my estimation standing 30m from the (very rough) equivalent 500 sticks of dynamite going off counts as damn close.
I realize this is a very rough comparison, but I'd guess that it's surely within an order of magnitude or two for comparison purposes. Joules are joules, but how they're released might be wildly different, we're way outside the realm of my expertise. I wouldn't want to be 30m from 50 sticks of dynamite going off, or even 5.
I don't know how the sound would compare between dynamite, but I agree with your observation that a lightning strike at 30m is a hell of a noise.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamite#Form