Lightning Stikes a Tree

There was a huge thunderstorm in the first week of July which knocked out power over a wide area of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.  The power outage did not affect us too much since we do not have utility service on the land but the storm did blow down a very large tree near our build site.  The downed tree was of no particular concern either since it was diseased and we were going to extract it anyway.  We thought that this tree was the extent of our storm damage until today when I was hiking into the southeast corner of our property in an area where I do not often go.  Here I found a tree that clearly was the victim of a recent lightning strike.  The strike produced what was essentially a high pressure steam explosion in the tree.  The bark was blown off nearly half the diameter of the trunk and the wood underneath had splintered and some was thrown may meters from the tree.  I would have loved to see it happen - from a safe distance. 

A once healthy oak is splintered by the effects of lightning.

Looking up the tree the extent of the damage is evident.

Shards of wood littered the forest floor.

Pieces of the struck tree were festooned on neighboring trees.