Strong storms rolled through the area Friday evening, but one piece of storm damage from Turnerville in Mobile County stood out: a tree stripped bare of its bark by a direct lightning strike.
Turnerville resident Michael Bru shared video of the aftermath, showing the tall trunk with bark blasted away down its length while cows grazed unconcerned around the base. He estimated the tree was about 30 inches in diameter before the strike.
Lightning routinely kills or scars trees across the Gulf Coast during summer storm season, but a full bark removal like this one is a striking illustration of the energy a single bolt carries — tens of thousands of amperes flashing down the trunk in a fraction of a second.