Of Fulgurites and Tornado Damage

UPDATE: Here are some photos of the fulgurites:

Henry (and his kids) and I had a great time this evening investigating tornado and lightning damage from last week over in the Eastern part of our county. Many videos and photos were taken; many theories were hypothesized.

We even found some Fulgurites [WikiPedia], rare tubular appendages in the ground formed by the lightning as it forked its way through the ground and fused sand into glass. Of course, we had to resist the temptation to dig up or take any fulgurites, as "Damaging, defacing, cutting or removing rock, shale, sand, clay, soil or other mineral product, natural object or material." is illegal in a State Park [PDF].

Below is a map showing where the lightning strike damage was, and where we believe the tornado path was, based on our photos and observations and the NWS report. Here's a link to the general area on a Google Map; we'll be providing links to download our information via Google Earth later this week.

Thanks go out to blog reader Karin for giving me directions to the lightning strike -- otherwise we wouldn't have known about it at all. Below are photos from myself and Karin; we will both upload additional photos later this week:

MY PHOTOS SO FAR:

LATEST 5 PHOTOS FROM Sierramtb

Here's one of Henry's videos showing the tornado damage -- he has more on his Meteo Madness Blog here and here.