Illinois Family’s Car Gets Blown Apart By Lightning Strike

Back when I first got my driver's license, I remember being told that you had nothing to worry about when it came to lightning striking your car. I was told that it rarely if ever happened, and if it did happen, I would be fine because the rubber tires on the car would protect me from harm.

So...how much of what I was told was actually accurate?

Very Little, As It Turns Out--Especially The Part About Your Tires Protecting You From The Lightning

According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lighting strikes the ground in the United States around 40 million times per year, and vehicles are struck thousands of times. So, while lightning strikes on vehicles don't happen as often as ground strikes, it's not exactly rare.

The common misperception that rubber tires insulate the car from lightning, preventing a strike or protecting occupants is just that. A misperception. If caught in a thunderstorm, stay inside your car with the windows closed and avoid touching metal parts like door handles or the steering wheel.

While rubber is an insulator at low voltages, the voltage in a lightning bolt is far too high for tires or air to stop it. The metal frame of a car, especially a hard-top vehicle, acts as a Faraday cage, which is a hollow conducting object that protects its interior from electrical fields and currents. What happens is when a lightning bolt strikes a car, the electrical current travels through the metal frame and into the ground, bypassing the interior and occupants.

A family traveling in southern Illinois knows that now.

A Family Driving Through Williamson County In Southern Illinois Over The Weekend Had Quite The Experience With A Lightning Strike When It Blew Chunks Off Of Their Car

Imagine driving along, minding your own business, when you hear something really loud. FoxNews.com:

An Illinois family walked away unharmed after deputies say lightning struck their car while they were driving on a highway on Saturday.

The incident happened on Route 13 in southern Illinois just before 6 p.m. Deputies from the Williamson County Sheriff's Office responded and found the family of three standing outside the Ford, which had sustained substantial damage, according to the sheriff’s office. The family told deputies that they heard a loud, gunshot-like noise before the vehicle filled with smoke.

The Williamson County Sheriffs deputies on the scene said that the strike knocked out the car's electronics, literally exploded the exhaust system and rear bumper, and sent debris flying onto the roadway. Here's what the car looked like afterwards: