Storm Chasers Record Exact Moment Toyota Prius Gets Struck By Lightning
You can watch it happen from inside and outside the car.
The power of mother nature never fails to amaze, especially when it's caught on camera. That's why some people are crazy enough to be storm chasers; they get a thrill out of tracking down some of the most interesting displays of weather and reporting back to us. Thankfully, that's the case here.
Two chasers that go by High Risk Chris and More Pi were hunting tornadoes in Iowa earlier this week when they found themselves caught in a thunderstorm. During the ordeal, one of their vehicles—a second-gen Toyota Prius— was struck by lightning. Astoundingly, it was caught on film for the world to see.
In the slow-motion footage captured by Chris' camera, you can see the plasma travel from the sky to the Prius, striking the rear and exploding as it makes contact. If you look closely at the bottom of the vehicle, you can see bits of electricity dance around the tires and near the base of the pavement—a testament to a metal-topped car's safety during lightning storms.
The person inside of the car goes by the name of More Pi, and apparently, they caught the storm that they were chasing in more ways than one.
And if one camera wasn't good enough, More Pi was actually filming inside of the Prius when it was struck. You can watch a video showing their perspective below—the action starts around the 15-second mark, so I'll give you the warning to turn down your volume ahead of time.
After realizing that their car was struck and was immobilized on the side of the road, More Pi exits the vehicle and starts to assess any damage. The lightning appears to have struck the Prius' antenna, completely stripping away any coating and exposing bare circuitry. On the bright side, it could have been much worse should the bolt have struck elsewhere.
Sadly, the dash camera inside More Pi's vehicle seems to have frozen upon impact. They were running both front and rear dash cams, and each one experienced a slight freeze as it was struck by lightning. Other cameras inside the car were able to capture the bolt's impact and the resulting blackout of the Prius' dashboard lights.
He says that it will take upwards of a week for a dealership to even look at the car. It seems that if the Prius is indeed down for the count, More Pi is at least happy it went out the way it did:
"That was a sick catch dude," wrote More Pi on YouTube. "If this is the final nail in the coffin for the Pi Prius I can rest easy knowing it went down with a zap!"
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