>>I spent about 18 months in Orlando, Florida. It seemed to be 104 every day during the summer with 99.9 to 100 % humidity. If you stood still for five minutes Spanish mold would be hanging from your limbs and any leather you were wearing would be ruined from mold. The lightning strikes viewed from Orlando were the most beautiful I have ever seen!
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>>Tom
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>When I first moved to Orlando they told me
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>"The temperature and humidity race each other to see which can get to 100 first" and that you could set you watch by the afternoon thunderstorms.
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>Both statements were pretty accurate, as is the one about lightning.
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>My kids were 3 and 4 at the time and were not happy about thunder and lightning. I took them into the garage so they could see how pretty, etc. BAD MISTAKE. There was a strike close enough to blow out both our TV's and we vacated the garage in a big hurry.

Rich;

I was told when I got to Orlando you could set your watch by summer thunder storms. It was either 1:30 PM or 4:00 PM. How true that was!

We would get lightning strikes that were unreal. I was at the MARS (Military Affiliated Radio System) station where we had a monster 90’ high Rombic antenna, and a three element beam on a 40 foot tower. The Rombic was a wire antenna about 300’ per leg and diamond shaped. When it looked like a storm was coming we had to disconnect all coaxial lines to receivers and transmitters as well as telephone lines. When the storm hit electrical discharges would occur across the SO 39 coaxial connectors – snap bang – blue sparks everywhere. We had a main coaxial connector box with about a dozen connectors on it.

On one occasion there was a ball of lightning that hit our beam antenna and danced down the guy wires and coax. It found its way to our operating position – we were on the air and did not expect a storm but you know how lightning can appear from nowhere. The lightning ball jumped from the receiver to the transmitter and then to the microphone and formed a triangle which lasted for several seconds. The smell of the ozone was evident! Just then there was a scream from the next room where one of the guys was running a phone patch.

Under normal conditions you would have your legs under the desk while running a phone patch but the guy at the console had his legs up in the air resting on a table 90 degrees to the left of the desk. A bolt of lightning found its way down the Rombic, and came out the BC 610 transmitter and right where the guys legs would have been if they were under the desk. The bolt continued around the corner and down the hall – a total distance of about 100 feet indoors. You would not believe it unless you were there. Blue flash and ozone – what memories. Boy that poor guy was so scared and thankful he was not killed!

After a few minutes the lightning stopped and the guy went pack to running his phone patch. A Sargent decided to play a trick and picked up an empty garbage can, walked up behind the guy and dropped the garbage can causing a loud noise. The guy running the phone patch screamed and ran out of the building to his car and went home. Next day he came back and was mad as hell at the Sargent.

The lightning strikes at night were something to see. I recall seeing lightning forming a cross between two clouds and the ground. Awesome sight!

Tom