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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: lightning

lightning stories: 10 news summaries
happy halloween

 The Most Common Phobias 

Don't like spiders and snakes? Join the club!

Oct 31, 09 3:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - In honor of Halloween, LiveScience reveals the most common phobias. If you still need a costume, you'll scare the most people by playing on their evolutionarily sensible fear of creatures with venomous fangs. The top terrors:
  1. Snakes
  2. Spiders and other "creepy crawlies"
  3. Places that are difficult to
... More »

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weather • snake • lightning • dentists • dentistry • elevator • spiders • phobias • fear of spiders • thunderstorms • flying • claustrophobia • dogs

(Newser) - Lightning and thunderstorms in Florida today forced NASA to postpone the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, Space.com reports, the fifth delay for the mission. Officials are now looking at approximately 6:25pm EDT tomorrow, though there’s a 60% chance of bad weather; the forecast looks better Wednesday,... More »

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NASA • space shuttle • lightning • Endeavour • Cape Canaveral • thunderstorms

(Newser) - We might never know what brought down Air France Flight 447 early today, but aviation expert Miles O’Brien believes it was either an exceptionally unlikely event or a series of cascading failures, he writes for True/Slant. A lightning strike, widely reported as a factor, could only have sent the... More »

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plane crash • lightning • Air France • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447

 Lightning Predicts 
 Hurricane Intensity: Study 

It may be useful in hurricane forecasting

Apr 9, 09 11:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - A day before the gustiest part of a hurricane hits, nature sends a warning sign via lightning, researchers tell USA Today. A study of Category 4 and 5 storms yielded a strong correlation between the hurricanes’ intensity and lightning, making the latter a powerful gauge for places that don’t... More »

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study • storm • meteorology • lightning • hurricanes

Man Asks Heavens to Settle Dispute, Lightning Strikes

Waves iron bar at sky instead of paying up

Sep 2, 08 9:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - A man in China's Fujian province got a shock when he asked the heavens to settle a score, CCTV reports. When a friend demanded an old debt be repaid, the man brandished an iron bar at the sky, swore he had never borrowed the money, and asked the gods to... More »

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China • debt • lightning

 8,000 Lightning Bolts
 Spark California Fires 

44,000 acres burn in 700 blazes

Jun 24, 08 2:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Thousands of lightning strikes over a wide swath of Northern California ignited more than 700 wildfires that have burned some 44,000 tinder-dry acres of grassland, brush and forest. Firefighters managed to protect most homes in almost all of the fires. The historically bad fire season has been spurred by... More »

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California • lightning • wildfires • National Weather Service • Chico • California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection • Shasta-Trinity National Forest

 Wildfires Tamed in
 Calif., Rage in NM 

2K people still evacuated in Santa Cruz County

Jun 21, 08 6:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - Firefighters almost completely contained a Northern California blaze today as fires in New Mexico threatened to spread, buoyed by lightning and high winds, the AP reports. The California fire, in Santa Cruz County, has leveled up to 15 homes and led to the continued evacuation of 2,000 people. Officials... More »

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California • New Mexico • winds • firefighters • lightning • wildfires • California wildfires

FAA Questions American's Lightning Safety

Mechanics grumble after airline stops inspections

May 16, 08 1:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - The FAA is questioning American Airlines' new policy on lightning inspections, and its opener is: Why doesn’t American do them anymore? American recently forbade its mechanics from doing extensive lightning damage checks unless pilots suspected a strike, a move designed to reduce delays and cancellations. Big airlines are typically... More »

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FAA • airline industry • lightning • American Airlines • airline safety • inspection

Lightning
Strikes Same
Man Twice

Unlucky double-victim draws 2nd zap on anniversary of 1st

Jul 30, 07 4:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - A man celebrated the 27th anniversary of being struck by lightning with a second electrocution from above—and once again lived to tell the tale, the Guardian reports. The 68 year old was hiding from a Pennsylvania storm in a shed when he and four others were shocked by lightning;... More »

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storm • Pennsylvania • injury • lightning • electrocution

A Strike Against iPods: Lightning

Tempting fate can cause permanent damage

Jul 12, 07 3:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - The story of a jogger with Y-shaped burns, a broken jaw, and hearing damage ends in an important moral: Forget your iPod during thunderstorms and try singing in the rain. The metal in earphones—any earphones, not just the chic white buds—can conduct the electric current from a lightning... More »

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Apple • lightning

10 Stories


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