Lightning strike to palm

[NBTX11]

It appears my large Filifera got struck by lightning last night. Should I be concerned. My wife heard a large crash last night. I didn’t hear it I was sleeping through it. When I went out this morning there was palm debris everywhere and this huge gouge out of the trunk. What should I do, if anything. 

[Fusca]

14 minutes ago, NBTX11 said:

It appears my large Filifera got struck by lightning last night. Should I be concerned. My wife heard a large crash last night. I didn’t hear it I was sleeping through it. When I went out this morning there was palm debris everywhere and this huge gouge out of the trunk. What should I do, if anything. 

I've not had that happen before.  You'd probably get better responses from Florida folks in the main forum, but I don't think there's anything you can do.  I've seen palms with deeper damage and still growing fine but not from a lightning strike.  If there's any bud damage you might end up with a 2-headed palm.  Hopefully it will be fine.

[PalmatierMeg]

Looks like a “glancing” blow. If the bolt had nailed the crown it likely would have nuked the meristem and killed it outright. That happens frequently in FL. I’ve seen it done to royals. Washies almost never get to soaring heights here like they do out west. With luck, your palm will survive with scars to show for the encounter.

[NBTX11]

6 minutes ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Looks like a “glancing” blow. If the bolt had nailed the crown it likely would have nuked the meristem and killed it outright. That happens frequently in FL. I’ve seen it done to royals. Washies almost never get to soaring heights here like they do out west. With luck, your palm will survive with scars to show for the encounter.

Yes. It looks like a glancing blow. Some of the strike went into the ground. I was just wondering if it will continue to be healthy or this will open it up to disease. 

[PalmatierMeg]

Hard to say. Wait and see

[NBTX11]

Well the other things is this palm naturally leans towards my house. If it falls it will do major damage. This thing weighs tons. It would kill someone if it fell on them. 
 

Hoping it did little long term damage. It still appears and feels solid. 

[PalmatierMeg]

How about more photos of the whole palm?

[jwitt]

I would watch the leaves and spear for wilting. I would not call it glancing as both the trunk and ground look displaced(damaged).  The current(electricity) may have only damaged that part near the ground, if so, that may be the best outcome.  

Be glad you or yours were no where near that trunk when the bolt hit and arc'ed.  

[jwitt]

2 minutes ago, jwitt said:

I would watch the leaves and spear for wilting. I would not call it glancing as both the trunk and ground look displaced(damaged).  The current(electricity) may have only damaged that part near the ground, if so, that may be the best outcome.  

Be glad you or yours were no where near that trunk when the bolt hit and arc'ed.  

I think the lightning bolt traveled thru the palm and arc'ed out the trunk when it neared the ground.  

Watch the leaves and spear.

 

[Silas_Sancona]

29 minutes ago, jwitt said:

I would watch the leaves and spear for wilting. I would not call it glancing as both the trunk and ground look displaced(damaged).  The current(electricity) may have only damaged that part near the ground, if so, that may be the best outcome.  

Be glad you or yours were no where near that trunk when the bolt hit and arc'ed.  

Agree ..definitely not a " glancing " blow / strike.. Can easily see where the current drilled into the ground.. Combined w/ the description of debris everywhere, depth of area gouged out, would say the strike was direct and quite powerful.

It may stand for awhile, but is now weakened ..and will continue to become more unstable over time as interior material continues to decay..  Sucks but if it were mine, i'd collect one last batch of seed -if it fruits this year, than have it cut down..

Far better to be safe than sorry..

 

[NBTX11]

Here is a wider view of palm. Should i eventually have cut down or leave it be. 

[NBTX11]

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

@NBTX11 these are resilient palms give it a chance and see what happens. Doesn't look like immediate danger to life or property from the pics. 

T J 

[Alberto]

Lucky it was the Washy and not the house....

[jwitt]

Just the damage to the ground is mind-blowing if that came from the lightning. The current(power) actually travels from the ground up thru the bolt.  Not what one actually sees with their own eyes, as your eyes see the light, not current. 

To displace the earth like that is crazy, not to even mention the energy to damage the trunk like that. 

I like @Silas_Sanconaadvice and wholeheartedly reguard his advice as near gospel on this.  Probably seen this before. 

 

 

Edited May 25 by jwitt
Added ground damage pic

[SeanK]

16 hours ago, NBTX11 said:

Well the other things is this palm naturally leans towards my house. If it falls it will do major damage. This thing weighs tons. It would kill someone if it fell on them. 
 

Hoping it did little long term damage. It still appears and feels solid. 

If it leans, there's a problem. Palms try to grow straight up. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

A "shocking" discovery. I'm "rooting" for the palm.

[Silas_Sancona]

14 hours ago, jwitt said:

Just the damage to the ground is mind-blowing if that came from the lightning. The current(power) actually travels from the ground up thru the bolt.  Not what one actually sees with their own eyes, as your eyes see the light, not current. 

To displace the earth like that is crazy, not to even mention the energy to damage the trunk like that. 

I like @Silas_Sanconaadvice and wholeheartedly reguard his advice as near gospel on this.  Probably seen this before. 

 

 

The thing i think many people don't always realize is when it comes to lightning itself, there are two main types.. Positive and Negative.. 

While it accounts for ~5% of strikes from a given storm ( possibly a few % more in the tropics ) Positive strikes are far more powerful, w/ a peak charge of 300,000 amperes / 1 billion volts..  so anything struck by a positive strike will suffer much greater damage compared to a " relatively " wimpy Neg. strike..  Fires / serious structural damage to a building / trees, etc are usually the result of positive strikes.

While it can still damage things, Negative strikes tend to do less damage, ..or is what i've read and noticed personally. For whatever reason, it has only been recently -relatively speaking- that positive strikes have been studied much more than in the past..

Obviously, it is impossible to know which type struck the Palm, but my guess would be positive, and it may have hit at an angle, rather than travel down the entire length of the trunk,  concentrating all of it's power in the lower half of the trunk  and adjacent ground nearby. .

As i mentioned, the op can let the palm " live on " for the near term.. if they choose to but, with the damage ..and the lean / ..and what looks to be erosion of the roots on the leaning side,  Palm is already in a troubling position.. Several days of soaking rains + further decay of damaged material + one heck of a windstorm, and all that weight / extra weight added from the wind = possible failure..

Then again, like other Washingtonia / other palms we've seen that seem to defy the odds, possible the palm continues on ...damaged, but still sturdy enough that it won't need to be removed for a while. As i said though, i'd let it do it's thing for the next year or two, then do what needs to be done.. Far less expensive to start over than to repair a house ..if it fell into it.

Needless to say, that strike would have done damage to the house if it had been the target, so the palm standing in the way to catch the bolt is a bit of a blessing..

 

[JLM]

12 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

The thing i think many people don't always realize is when it comes to lightning itself, there are two main types.. Positive and Negative.. 

While it accounts for ~5% of strikes from a given storm ( possibly a few % more in the tropics ) Positive strikes are far more powerful, w/ a peak charge of 300,000 amperes / 1 billion volts..  so anything struck by a positive strike will suffer much greater damage compared to a " relatively " wimpy Neg. strike..  Fires / serious structural damage to a building / trees, etc are usually the result of positive strikes.

While it can still damage things, Negative strikes tend to do less damage, ..or is what i've read and noticed personally. For whatever reason, it has only been recently -relatively speaking- that positive strikes have been studied much more than in the past..

Obviously, it is impossible to know which type struck the Palm, but my guess would be positive, and it may have hit at an angle, rather than travel down the entire length of the trunk,  concentrating all of it's power in the lower half of the trunk  and adjacent ground nearby. .

As i mentioned, the op can let the palm " live on " for the near term.. if they choose to but, with the damage ..and the lean / ..and what looks to be erosion of the roots on the leaning side,  Palm is already in a troubling position.. Several days of soaking rains + further decay of damaged material + one heck of a windstorm, and all that weight / extra weight added from the wind = possible failure..

Then again, like other Washingtonia / other palms we've seen that seem to defy the odds, possible the palm continues on ...damaged, but still sturdy enough that it won't need to be removed for a while. As i said though, i'd let it do it's thing for the next year or two, then do what needs to be done.. Far less expensive to start over than to repair a house ..if it fell into it.

Needless to say, that strike would have done damage to the house if it had been the target, so the palm standing in the way to catch the bolt is a bit of a blessing..

 

Yeah, had a lightning strike at the Pensacola Airport, blew out a large chunk of concrete in the taxiing area (if thats what its called). It wasnt but a few days later that the electrical wires that power the runway lights, which was under where the lightning struck, had a fire. It caused any flights at night to be cancelled. This went on for a few days before they could finally fix the issue.

[NBTX11]

I have my answer. The crown is rapidly collapsing and will probably have to come down. 

[Fusca]

So sorry to see that!  ☹️  It's probably more common around here with so many tall robusta around but I've personally never heard of it happening before.  Glad that you got some sound advice.

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

Sorry for the loss. Maybe you can turn it into money by seeing if there is a "Fulgurite" in the ground where the lightning struck. Look it up. It is a fused glass like material where the lightning melted the ground. Be careful and do not break it if you find some. I think the longer they are the better. You never know how valuable it could be or how worthless.