More than 300 wild reindeer were recently killed by lightning at a Norwegian national park, officials say.
The Norwegian Environment Agency has released haunting images of reindeer—including 70 calves—that seemingly fell over where they stood in the grasses of Hardangervidda, the largest high mountain plateau in northern Europe.
The national park, the largest in Norway with wild reindeer populations, spans some 8,000 square kilometers (3,088 square miles) and is home to 10,000 to 11,000 wild reindeer.
While specifics on the lightning strike are still unknown at this time, it’s likely that the dead reindeer were a herd that huddled together to weather a severe thunderstorm that rolled through the area on Friday.
It’s not the first time that lightning has caused animal herds to die en masse. In 1990, a thunderstorm killed 30 cattle on a farm in Orange County, Virginia, leaving their bodies scattered in a field. In 2005, a lightning strike killed 68 cows at a dairy farm outside Dorrigo in New South Wales, Australia. And in 2008, lightning outside of Montevideo, Uruguay, struck a paddock’s wire fence, killing 52 of the cattle grazing inside. (See more reindeer pictures.)
“I’ve heard of groups of cow [getting killed] when it strikes the ground,” says Steve Goodman, a scientist with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Satellite Service. “The lightning can spread for hundreds and hundreds of meters, for sure.”
Read the rest of the article here http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/norway-reindeer-lightning-weather/
Lightning does not actually ever strike the ground, lightning builds up so many volts of electricity once this atmospheric voltage gets over one million volts this battery starts looking for the easiest discharge path.
This is when at ground level it is best to be under cover since whatever is the path of least resistance is the path the lightning will travel, buildings, trees, boat masts.
Even one fool who had a metal key attached to his kite. Remember old Benjamin Franklin he became so famous they even chose him as the only useful person to put on American money; since all the rest are politicians : )
/ hugz ; )
Indeed the fact Ben Franklin was not a politician is possibly the only reason American money has usefulness and respect around the world even today . . .
/ hugz ; )
Not anymore ;)
the whole world has just got really messed up in the last 10 years it seems . . .
What, really? Very weird incident.
Extremely bizzare.
This i never seen before , 1,2,5 , 10 ok , but 300 plus ??
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Thank You! ☙
Nothing has ever made me sadder than this.