# Lightning fell really close to me today - anybody else had lightning striking too close for comfort?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-fell-really-close-to-me-today-anybody-else-had-lightning-striking-too-close-for-comfort/838606>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 13, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-fell-really-close-to-me-today-anybody-else-had-lightning-striking-too-close-for-comfort/838606 "2019-08-13T15:53:10Z")\
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**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-fell-really-close-to-me-today-anybody-else-had-lightning-striking-too-close-for-comfort/838606/9 "2019-08-13T19:14:54Z")

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> [@JoseB](#):
>
> I estimate that lightning fell not more than about 10-15 m away from me.

Because it’s a fun fact, not because I’m trying to be pedantic: the lightning actually **rose** 10-15m away from you, not fell. A typical lightning strike is initiated by a flow of negative charge down from the cloud. As it approaches the ground (50-100 m), a positive streamer reaches up and meets the downward ladder, at which point a return stroke goes from ground to sky. This return stroke is what you see.

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