June Banter 2024

[SnowenOutThere]

1 hour ago, hstorm said:

We need the rain, but hoping for a bust on this evening's storms so that NVSL relay carnival is unaffected.  The kids love this event and it would be unfortunate to have to sit out a long storm delay or to have to reschedule for tomorrow (which would cause huge availability issues for our team . . . and presumably others too).

I’ve heard from my NVSL friends how much they like their relay meet (I’m a csl warrior), would be a shame if it was canceled but not much to do about that. 

[hstorm]

4 hours ago, vastateofmind said:

Worst NVSL memory EVER, from about 15 years ago...getting the kids to the host pool in Springfield area around 5:30 p.m. for relay carnival, when (of course!) it started thundering. There were severe storms in the area at the time, but it appeared on radar as if they were going to miss our area...but did not. We got 2-3 rounds of really bad storms, while stuck in insufferably hot/humid conditions sitting in our minivan with a handful of bored kids drawing on fogged-up windows. We were continually rain-delayed until well after 9 p.m., when everyone was cleared to hit the pool deck and start RC. Don't think we got home until 11:30 that night...UGH.

Ugh indeed.  I REALLY hope we aren't in a long waiting game tonight.  Fortunately our relays tonight are at a pool that's only ~10 minutes from our house (and we have a parking pass for the pool's lot).  If there is an extended weather delay, we may just run home to wait it out and rush back when the meet resumes.

[vastateofmind]

3 minutes ago, hstorm said:

Ugh indeed.  I REALLY hope we aren't in a long waiting game tonight.  Fortunately our relays tonight are at a pool that's only ~10 minutes from our house (and we have a parking pass for the pool's lot).  If there is an extended weather delay, we may just run home to wait it out and rush back when the meet resumes.

That sounds GREAT. And parking passes for the visiting pool...NIIICCCCE!    We didn't score those until my wife because a team rep for a few years...   

[pazzo83]

4 hours ago, SnowenOutThere said:

At least DC has the metro, the silver line being built out to Reston (and right next to our hs) has been awesome for me and my friends cause we’re able to take quick day trips into the city. Really wish we had more city to city light rail to expand our day trip range but at least we can go into dc!

100% - we need more cross-suburb rail transit.  The purple line is a start in MD, but VA needs a lot more.  You should be able to take a train between cities/towns without having to always go through DC or do a bunch of transfers.

[mattie g]

Relay Carnival for us is literally 3-5 minutes away and we have 12 passes for the lot (and I get one as the Rep ). Not looking forward to the inevitable delays, as you guys have mentioned, but nothing we can do about it. My main worry is that families just drive home to wait out any storms and don't get the SwimTopia app alerts we send out. Before you know it, we've only got three 8&Us going to clerk of course while we frantically text the parents to get them back to the pool!

If we go into tomorrow, we're going to have some issues with our 15-18s because a bunch of them are scheduled to guard at our own pool tomorrow. We're already missing a lot of swimmers to camps and such this week, so we had to pull from the lower rungs of our ladders to fill the relays, but hopefully those weakened groups can make a respectable showing and we can pull out a Relay Carnival win!

[vastateofmind]

36 minutes ago, mattie g said:

Relay Carnival for us is literally 3-5 minutes away and we have 12 passes for the lot (and I get one as the Rep ). Not looking forward to the inevitable delays, as you guys have mentioned, but nothing we can do about it. My main worry is that families just drive home to wait out any storms and don't get the SwimTopia app alerts we send out. Before you know it, we've only got three 8&Us going to clerk of course while we frantically text the parents to get them back to the pool!

If we go into tomorrow, we're going to have some issues with our 15-18s because a bunch of them are scheduled to guard at our own pool tomorrow. We're already missing a lot of swimmers to camps and such this week, so we had to pull from the lower rungs of our ladders to fill the relays, but hopefully those weakened groups can make a respectable showing and we can pull out a Relay Carnival win!

Oh, that we HAD the SwimTopia app for alerts on that fateful, severe weather laden Relay Carnival evening so long ago! That, and today's smartphones in general, make keeping in touch at potentially dicey times like later this evening SO much easier now.

[GATECH]

Ahh the relay carnival. So fun!  So sad to miss it this year… ok that's a lie.  And they always seem to be plagued by storms for some reason.  My horror story from a couple of years ago…hot clear day with some way off Thunder heads building.  Someone claims to hear Thunder, check the radar, nothing within 60 miles, check the old lightening array, nada.  45 minute delay….we get back, warmups start, Thunder storms now moving closer.  I for sure now hear thunder soft roll, apparently I am the only one.  Another one, still no call…then one unmistakable boom and everyone starts to scatter.  That’s was it, last Thunder another 45 minute delay and back to the race.   Never even rained. 

[vastateofmind]

1 hour ago, GATECH said:

Ahh the relay carnival. So fun!  So sad to miss it this year… ok that's a lie.  And they always seem to be plagued by storms for some reason.  My horror story from a couple of years ago…hot clear day with some way off Thunder heads building.  Someone claims to hear Thunder, check the radar, nothing within 60 miles, check the old lightening array, nada.  45 minute delay….we get back, warmups start, Thunder storms now moving closer.  I for sure now hear thunder soft roll, apparently I am the only one.  Another one, still no call…then one unmistakable boom and everyone starts to scatter.  That’s was it, last Thunder another 45 minute delay and back to the race.   Never even rained. 

Oh, brother...I spit water over my keyboard on the "that's a lie" part.   My wife and I watch the next-door neighbors load up their little kids at 0830 daily to take them to swim practice, and even earlier on Sat mornings for their swim meets, and we think...."Thank GOD we don't have to do that anymore!"  

Seriously, NVSL was fun and fresh and new when our sons were little guys 15+ years ago, and I love to read/see the documented experiences of next-gen families in this forum having those same experiences. In our case, it became a little bit less fun/fresh/new in the pre-teen years...and then just sort of got to be a drag for the last 1-2 years of our involvement...which, ironically enough, is when my wife became a co-team rep and I stepped up to arrange officials for each meet.

In any event...I love to read these NVSL anecdotes.   

[GATECH]

Yeah, our kid is 15 now so no need to go to those 5 hour b meets, we drop him off and pick him up now…at the stage where it’s not cool to have your parents there…fine by me.  And his age group is packed with talent this year so no A meets so far, last Saturday they started the A meet at 7:30, that was a 5:00 am wake up call…no thanks!

[hstorm]

Very happy that we made it through our relay carnival with no storms and no rain. Even happier that all of our kids had a blast. 

[vastateofmind]

7 hours ago, WeatherShak said:

Watched the neighborhood substation appear to blow up. No power. No AC. Sigh.
 

Now that truly DOES suck -- what's the situation this morning? It's definitely feeling muggy here this morning. Hope this was, or is, fixed quickly!

[mattie g]

15 hours ago, hstorm said:

Very happy that we made it through our relay carnival with no storms and no rain. Even happier that all of our kids had a blast. 

We had a few rumbles of thunder that delayed our warmups, but we shortened them to 10 minutes apiece and got the meet started at 6:35 pm. Went pretty well and finished before 8:30 pm. And it was a really well run meet and everyone had a great time!

Kids had some great swims - even the many who had to fill in for all the other kids missing - and we did end up winning the meet. Our 11-12 Boys went 56 low (and destroyed our team record) in Free, and went 1:03 in Medley, so we're just waiting for our first call to All Star Relay in a few years. Always neat when a little team like ours gets the chance to swim against the big teams!

Also...one of the other teams had a f'ing 3-year-old swimming in their 8&U relays!!!

[snowfan]

Wind Chill advisory tonight for KMWN w temps in the 20s, WCs as low as 5 and a chance of snow showers. Not out of the ordinary for them, but always cool to see for late June. 

[hstorm]

2 hours ago, mattie g said:

We had a few rumbles of thunder that delayed our warmups, but we shortened them to 10 minutes apiece and got the meet started at 6:35 pm. Went pretty well and finished before 8:30 pm. And it was a really well run meet and everyone had a great time!

Kids had some great swims - even the many who had to fill in for all the other kids missing - and we did end up winning the meet. Our 11-12 Boys went 56 low (and destroyed our team record) in Free, and went 1:03 in Medley, so we're just waiting for our first call to All Star Relay in a few years. Always neat when a little team like ours gets the chance to swim against the big teams!

Also...one of the other teams had a f'ing 3-year-old swimming in their 8&U relays!!!

A 3 year-old?  That's crazy!  Was he/she reasonably fast?  Or just filled a lane?  (If the latter, I guess it's better than not having a team to enter.)

Our team swam a 5 year-old in 8&U free at last week's A-meet.  That was due to a lot of people being on vacation.  We definitely don't have any 3 year-olds who could swim a full length.

[mattie g]

21 minutes ago, hstorm said:

A 3 year-old?  That's crazy!  Was he/she reasonably fast?  Or just filled a lane?  (If the latter, I guess it's better than not having a team to enter.)

Our team swam a 5 year-old in 8&U free at last week's A-meet.  That was due to a lot of people being on vacation.  We definitely don't have any 3 year-olds who could swim a full length.

It was just to fill a lane. She was as big as a 5-year-old, but still...that's just nuts.

We've done the same with filling lanes with younger ones. We have lots of kids (6-8s) who could probably just fill a lane and make it across the pool this year, but we try not to throw kids in there if we feel it might be intimidating for them or somehow lower their enthusiasm for swimming if they don't do well. We have a 7-year-old boy who swam all four strokes as a 5, but he's a bit of an anomaly (to say the least).

The coaches entered my 6-year-old in Fly last week, but she refused to swim it . I was a little disappointed, but it's not the end of the world. At this point, she just wants to swim if her best friend is also swimming, so B Meets are where it's at right now. Of course, now she's putting up a fuss about swimming Back this weekend, even though she's perfectly capable of not coming in last!

[Jebman]

It is 99 degrees. Dewpoint is 75.

I am out in this, trimming hedges, very dangerous work as I on on the top of a ladder and it feels like 112 degrees! I am also in the direct sun.

I am crazy, and a glutton for punishment.

Be GLAD you dont live in south central Texas!

[hstorm]

46 minutes ago, mattie g said:

It was just to fill a lane. She was as big as a 5-year-old, but still...that's just nuts.

We've done the same with filling lanes with younger ones. We have lots of kids (6-8s) who could probably just fill a lane and make it across the pool this year, but we try not to throw kids in there if we feel it might be intimidating for them or somehow lower their enthusiasm for swimming if they don't do well. We have a 7-year-old boy who swam all four strokes as a 5, but he's a bit of an anomaly (to say the least).

The coaches entered my 6-year-old in Fly last week, but she refused to swim it . I was a little disappointed, but it's not the end of the world. At this point, she just wants to swim if her best friend is also swimming, so B Meets are where it's at right now. Of course, now she's putting up a fuss about swimming Back this weekend, even though she's perfectly capable of not coming in last!

Our fastest 8&U girl at free and back is a 6 year-old.  (She also has a good swim birthday).  She is not consistently legal at breast/fly and is much slower at those events when she is legal . . . but she is seconds faster than anyone else in free/back.

Our 5 year-old who swam last week became a team celebrity . . . all of the kids were cheering for her (and she did not come in last!).  

[vastateofmind]

On 6/28/2024 at 3:40 PM, GATECH said:

Yeah, definitely a pretty good down burst.  Highest gust on my weather station that night was 10mph, but my weather station is terribly sighted for wind.  Couple of 4-5 inch branches in the hood were broken so pretty legit storm.  Just can’t believe the paltry rainfall… 

Hey, if you don't mind, tell me again which wx station you have? I can't find it in my saved stuff, but I vaguely recall from a past discussion that you had one installed that appealed to me on a number of feature fronts...

[GATECH]

4 hours ago, vastateofmind said:

Hey, if you don't mind, tell me again which wx station you have? I can't find it in my saved stuff, but I vaguely recall from a past discussion that you had one installed that appealed to me on a number of feature fronts...

I have a tempest.  Great compact little system, it enhanced by AI, has a haptic rain gauge and sonic anemometer.  I used to have a Davis vantage pro II, solid device but I like the compact tempest better.  Great customer service with the tempest!  See the tempest netork mapped below, I am the station called emerald, station just north of Fort Hunt

https://tempestwx.com/map/40.7128/-74.0059/12

 

https://business.tempest.earth/tempestone-weather-system?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADhFFvFRz6prUk09vFs9ZWbSuOONG&gclid=CjwKCAjw4f6zBhBVEiwATEHFVqcD-NGun69UVtWbsqTCHJZ4Q_rhXxKttRjlKP6TGdjV6mmGGLZG8xoCvzMQAvD_BwE

 

 

 

[RDM]

8 hours ago, AdamHLG said:

I live in a warned area earlier tonight in Chestnut Ridge area Baltimore County. My property took a direct strike tonight - split a massive tree in our front yard and split it down the center. The charge got picked up by our landscape lighting and entered the house and blew up the lighting transformer in my garage (during initial damage assessment there was a haze in garage and 911 was initiated. FD came out and secondary search found the transformer blew up and blackened the wall (that was the haze) , took out 2 GFCI outlets that are now blinking red and dead, my main network switch is dead , a raspberry pi Homebridge computer is dead, my main tv is dead , and I still haven’t finished damage assessment. . Massive tree and its branches down in my yard. Pics when I get internet back I have half a bar. Nobody injured.

I was siting on front steps 20 min earlier listening to very distant thunder and saw all the flashes afar and on RadarScope (while cells still in Frederick / start of Carroll). I had some time but then the TSW was issued so I came inside well in advance. Never - ever - expected a direct strike. Holy **** was that scary. The tree 25 feet away. I have a little ptsd about it and new respect for lightning (not that I ever didn’t have it - but wait till I post the tree and transformer tomorrow.

That was closest strike of my life with property damage on top of it. . Severe lightning direct hit unlocked. I can be done now.

   Thanks for your story - glad the damage was not worse and nobody was injured.  Had a similar experience in 1998 at our first house in Springfield, VA shortly after getting married. 

   Had a big t-storm come through.  My wife, daughter and I were standing inside the front entrance watching the hail when lightening struck a large pin oak in our front yard about 25 feet away.  It was a very big tree with a trunk 2'+ in diameter and the first limb about 15 feet off the ground.  The lightening blew off much of the bark on one side of trunk.  Slabs of bark 10' long blew all over the place, with some pieces ending up inside our living room. 

   The strike followed an underground root over to a concrete downspout basin where it electrically connected with re-bar inside the concrete and then the downspout, and then the house.  Blew a trench in the ground the entire path well over a foot deep, which blew dirt, rocks and sod everywhere.  It would not have been pretty if we were standing outside with potentially harmful projectiles flying around.  Found rocks and chunks of sod 50+ feet away in the street. 

  Lost a couple windows in the front of the house, several outlets and had to have our electrical panel in the basement replaced.  It was in the corner of basement where the downspout electrically propagated the strike to the house.  Discovered after the fact the rebar in the downspout was exposed on one corner, which was the continuity to the house.  Could see the char on the underside of the concrete where the electrical charge scoured the concrete. 

   When it struck we lost our hearing for several minutes.  My wife and daughter were in shock.  We couldn't talk to each other but I verified they were ok and called 911.  Told the operator what had happened and that I could not hear anything and could not respond to any questions.  I kept the dispatcher on line in a one-way conversation and inspected the house with fire extinguisher in hand before heading up to the attic, which had the same electrical stench. 

  The stench of burnt electrical items permeated the house, especially the basement.  Fortunately, there were no sustaining flames.  The fire department used a hand-held thermal heat detector to verify there was nothing burning inside the walls.  Then they departed and the cleanup began as our hearing slowly returned.

   We were also fortunate there was no serious fire and no injuries.  Will never forget the sound, flash and flying debris.  And that ringing - it was nearly debilitating.  

 

[vastateofmind]

1 hour ago, Miss Pixee said:

85/71 at 10:30 AM. Bright cloudy skies with breaks showing blue.

1 hour ago, BlizzardNole said:

Getting decently sunny already at 10:30 am.  Hope we get some good rains later

Yeah, we're noticing more breaks in the cloudiness in our parts....more than I anticipated, looking at the GOES satellite pics. I'm assuming that more sun will equal more atmospheric destabilization for storms later on.

10 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Happy Sunday. We got another station online.
 

 

This width and breadth of the evolving coverage of this MD mesonet project is awesome. I see that VA Tech -- Virginia Tech Mesonet | climate.geography | Virginia Tech (vt.edu) -- has a very limited network set up in a number of VA spots. Are any other states working on building out the way MD has?

[Eskimo Joe]

2 hours ago, vastateofmind said:

This width and breadth of the evolving coverage of this MD mesonet project is awesome. I see that VA Tech -- Virginia Tech Mesonet | climate.geography | Virginia Tech (vt.edu) -- has a very limited network set up in a number of VA spots. Are any other states working on building out the way MD has?

Great question. Mesonets are actually hard to design and implement. There are many moving parts and startup funds are often difficult to come by. In Maryland we benefit from having a science minded electorate and state legislature, as well as small number of counties. This results in a project getting off the ground quickly. 

As for other networks, Wisconsin is building out their mesonet pretty quickly, and Pennsylvania has their first 8 sites going in the ground this summer. I've heard several rumors that Maine is starting one up, but I can't find any official source on that.

[WxUSAF]

JB and Maue experiencing record breaking levels of COPE during this trying hurricane season. Pray for them in this difficult time. 

[AdamHLG]

Posting this here so as to not clog the severe thread.  This is regarding the direct strike at my house last night I mentioned in the severe thread.  I figured I would write my report.

We are all weather enthusiasts and extreme weather is in our blood, but you need to play it safe!  I saw our cells rolling in on RadarScope and was checking the forum for posts in the 45 min leading up to it.   I went to sit on my front stoop with my dog for a few minutes watching a very distant light show through the trees in the night sky and the long delayed slow rumbling thunder.  It was very peaceful in the still humid air.  I was checking RadarScope to see if it would hold together, and to my surprise, it was.  When I saw a trending and emerging pattern of multiple lightning strikes on RadarScope in Carroll County, I knew the moment it hit the Baltimore County line - or - the WSW was issued - that would be my personal indicator to head inside.  3 minutes later both triggers happened simultaneously, and that was that - time to go in.  I knew there would still be 20 minutes or so until the show was to begin - but I like to play it safe.  

It was about 25 min later and we saw a few relatively close 'flashes' through the windows and then the crack of thunder 3 or 4 seconds later.  I knew at that point this really was "for real" and we were now in 'the 'zone' - not that a direct strike would actually ever happen - but knowing in theory that it 'could actually happen' was in my mind.  About 3 minutes after that I was standing in the kitchen and my wife sitting on the couch and "FLASHBANG" it was a blinding light and instantaneous explosion.  I screamed "WOAH...." and I was frozen in my steps.   My wife jumped off the couch freaked out.  It scared the **** out of both of us.  She finally said "I think that hit us" and after my initial frozen shock (so to speak - but I did not electrically feel the jolt), I started immediate damage assessment like on a submarine movie.  I immediately went to breaker box in the basement to check for fire and any tripped breakers (first step - check for hazards and this offers clues).  No fire or odor but sure enough 2 breakers flipped - one for garage and one for upstairs bedroom.  Quickly finished initial primary assessment in basement and headed to bedroom next - noticed various TV and power out on some outlets, but no other hazards or odors.  Attic assessment would require ladder - that would need to be last.  Finished remainder of upstairs primary assessment and next to garage via first floor level with no hazards evident along the way.  Entered garage and immediately notice no power, odor of electrical burning, and moderate haze in the flashlight beam.  No active fire.  Initiated 911.  Continued the assessment in the garage and located the outdoor landscape lighting transformer which had exploded.  FD arrived and we initiated full secondary assessment of attic, walls, interior, exterior, with thermal imager checking for heat.  It was at that point a firefighter tells me it must have come right down the tree and entered your house at the landscape lighting.  I ask "why do you say that?"  He says "you didn't see the tree?"  And that's the moment I learned what got struck.  No further hazards were found on secondary assessment.  FD cleared after 40 min.  Still assessing the actual interior damages and currently drafting the repair matrix.

Thanks for listening to my experience!

 

[aldie 22]

Wonder when the local fireworks are going to start canceling due to dry

[Paleocene]

Thought you all may appreciate this. I am visiting in-laws near Bar Harbor/Ellsworth Maine.  We went antiquing today and I stumbled across this fun little mid century modern analog weather instrument. Of course I impulse bought it (it was cheap). The temp and barometer appear to be accurate. Humidity, TBD.  Based on a little metal tag on the top it appears to have been given by the American Motors Corporation to a champion salesman as a desktop trinket some years ago. I was born in the 80s so it gets an "older than me" rating based on font/general look but I'm honestly not sure how old it is.   

Bonus pic of Acadia National Park, taken from across Frenchman Bay under yesterday's high cloud deck in the late afternoon, attached. It was 58 degrees!

[vastateofmind]

13 minutes ago, Paleocene said:

Thought you all may appreciate this. I am visiting in-laws near Bar Harbor/Ellsworth Maine.  We went antiquing today and I stumbled across this fun little mid century modern analog weather instrument. Of course I impulse bought it (it was cheap). The temp and barometer appear to be accurate. Humidity, TBD.  Based on a little metal tag on the top it appears to have been given by the American Motors Corporation to a champion salesman as a desktop trinket some years ago. I was born in the 80s so it gets an "older than me" rating based on font/general look but I'm honestly not sure how old it is.   

Bonus pic of Acadia National Park, taken from across Frenchman Bay under yesterday's high cloud deck in the late afternoon, attached. It was 58 degrees!

Acadia National Park is near the top of my bucket list. Don't know why we can't manage to get up there any given year...such a beautiful spot.

[Paleocene]

3 minutes ago, vastateofmind said:

Acadia National Park is near the top of my bucket list. Don't know why we can't manage to get up there any given year...such a beautiful spot.

It's fantastic up here. DM me for recommendations if you ever do make the trip. Highly recommend.

[GramaxRefugee]

2 hours ago, AdamHLG said:

Posting this here so as to not clog the severe thread.  This is regarding the direct strike at my house last night I mentioned in the severe thread.  I figured I would write my report.

We are all weather enthusiasts and extreme weather is in our blood, but you need to play it safe!  I saw our cells rolling in on RadarScope and was checking the forum for posts in the 45 min leading up to it.   I went to sit on my front stoop with my dog for a few minutes watching a very distant light show through the trees in the night sky and the long delayed slow rumbling thunder.  It was very peaceful in the still humid air.  I was checking RadarScope to see if it would hold together, and to my surprise, it was.  When I saw a trending and emerging pattern of multiple lightning strikes on RadarScope in Carroll County, I knew the moment it hit the Baltimore County line - or - the WSW was issued - that would be my personal indicator to head inside.  3 minutes later both triggers happened simultaneously, and that was that - time to go in.  I knew there would still be 20 minutes or so until the show was to begin - but I like to play it safe.  

It was about 25 min later and we saw a few relatively close 'flashes' through the windows and then the crack of thunder 3 or 4 seconds later.  I knew at that point this really was "for real" and we were now in 'the 'zone' - not that a direct strike would actually ever happen - but knowing in theory that it 'could actually happen' was in my mind.  About 3 minutes after that I was standing in the kitchen and my wife sitting on the couch and "FLASHBANG" it was a blinding light and instantaneous explosion.  I screamed "WOAH...." and I was frozen in my steps.   My wife jumped off the couch freaked out.  It scared the **** out of both of us.  She finally said "I think that hit us" and after my initial frozen shock (so to speak - but I did not electrically feel the jolt), I started immediate damage assessment like on a submarine movie.  I immediately went to breaker box in the basement to check for fire and any tripped breakers (first step - check for hazards and this offers clues).  No fire or odor but sure enough 2 breakers flipped - one for garage and one for upstairs bedroom.  Quickly finished initial primary assessment in basement and headed to bedroom next - noticed various TV and power out on some outlets, but no other hazards or odors.  Attic assessment would require ladder - that would need to be last.  Finished remainder of upstairs primary assessment and next to garage via first floor level with no hazards evident along the way.  Entered garage and immediately notice no power, odor of electrical burning, and moderate haze in the flashlight beam.  No active fire.  Initiated 911.  Continued the assessment in the garage and located the outdoor landscape lighting transformer which had exploded.  FD arrived and we initiated full secondary assessment of attic, walls, interior, exterior, with thermal imager checking for heat.  It was at that point a firefighter tells me it must have come right down the tree and entered your house at the landscape lighting.  I ask "why do you say that?"  He says "you didn't see the tree?"  And that's the moment I learned what got struck.  No further hazards were found on secondary assessment.  FD cleared after 40 min.  Still assessing the actual interior damages and currently drafting the repair matrix.

Thanks for listening to my experience!

 

Quite interesting.  The behavior of the landscape lighting circuit is similar to that of a dog radio fence, (Invisible Fence- which uses a buried wire), that my friend had take a lightening hit years ago. Followed the wire and blew the transformer. Glad your losses were minimized at least.