The Infamous Lightning Shot

This is one sick picture that my cousin Patrick happened to capture!

I was telling him he couldn't time it well enough to capture a bolt, then BAM!

Video from that storm here:

The first video is actually hilarious with the way I respond to the scary-close lightning- check it out 10 seconds in!

600ft Jellyfish Crop Circle Found in Oxfordshire Field

What could explain this if it's NOT aliens?

UFOB- A 600ft jellyfish pattern has appeared in a barley field in Kingstone Coombes, Oxfordshire, in what is one of the most intriguing crop circles ever seen in Britain.

The vast pattern appeared in the field last week and experts are claiming it to be the first of its kind in the world.

Karen Alexander, a crop circle expert, said: "We have seen butterfly and bird patterns in the past, but this is the first jellyfish crop circle in the world.

"It is absolutely huge - roughly three times the size of most crop patterns and extremely interesting. People have been aghast at the size of it. It is a complete monster.
"We are looking into the meaning of it, but at present it just seems to have appeared out of nowhere."

Crop circle theorists known as 'croppies' - believe the patterns are created by UFOs during nocturnal visits, or caused by natural phenomena such as unusual forms of lightning striking the earth.

But it has been proven the patterns can be easily created artists.

Last year a crop circle described as the most complex ever to seen in Britain was discovered in a barley field in Wiltshire.

The formation, measuring 150ft in diameter, was a coded image representing the first 10 digits, 3.141592654, of pi.

Michael Reed, an astrophysicist, said: "The tenth digit has even been correctly rounded up. The little dot near the centre is the decimal point.

"The code is based on 10 angular segments with the radial jumps being the indicator of each segment.

"Starting at the centre and counting the number of one-tenth segments in each section contained by the change in radius clearly shows the values of the first 10 digits in the value of pi."

Family Watched As Lightning Struck Boy

A 12-year-old boy was struck by lightning and killed yesterday evening while playing catch with another boy on a ballfield south of Fredericksburg in Spotsylvania County, authorities said.

The other boy was critically injured in the lightning strike, which came as powerful thunderstorms raked much of the Washington region with hail, gusts of wind and downpours that caused trees to topple and roads to flood in spots.

The 12-year-old, Chelal Matos of Spotsylvania County, was struck at 6:26 p.m., said 1st Sgt. Liz Scott of the county sheriff's department.

She said that because of the weather, umpires had called off a baseball game and ordered participants off the field, which is two or three miles east of Interstate 95 and just north of Route 17.

Scott said the boy and his 11-year-old teammate stayed on the field under parents' supervision.

The boys were taken to Mary Washington Hospital, where the older boy was pronounced dead.

The younger was transferred to a Richmond hospital in "very critical" condition, Scott said.

She said it appeared that the 12-year-old was struck directly and that the bolt might have jumped from him to the younger boy.

The incident came on a second night of powerful thunderstorms.

Almost an inch and a half of rain fell at Reagan National Airport between 6 and 11 p.m. Rainfall was even heavier in western Fairfax and eastern Loudoun counties, as more than two inches fell at Dulles International Airport between 8 and 10 p.m.

Flash flooding was reported on Route 50 about a mile northeast of Chantilly. As much as a foot of water was flowing across the roadway just before 10 p.m.

Flooding was reported in the South Riding area of Loudoun County, with as much as 2 1/2 feet of water on Tall Cedars Parkway.

High water also was reported on Interstate 270 in the Rockville area, with two cars stalled.

About 11 p.m., power was out at about 4,400 homes and businesses in Montgomery and Prince George's counties and Northern Virginia.

The National Weather Service said it would check today for a possible tornado touchdown yesterday evening in Page County, Va.

Hailstones ranging in size from marbles to quarters to golf balls and even baseballs were reported in parts of Virginia.

In the District, six trees were reported toppled near Rhode Island Avenue and Fourth Street NE.