A while back I took these photos to document some interesting effects caused by lightning.
A co-worker was quite near the tree when the strike occurred. The fence was glowing with blue sparks
The tree was dead but must have had some moisture running down one of the spiral cracks in its trunk.
This moisture provided the necessary conductivity but boiled explosively in the process splitting away the dry wood.
The electric charged passed between the wire fence and the trunk where the fence made contact with the trunk
The spiral crack went all the way up the the trunk and the charge followed it without deviation.
This even extend to the top branches
We get a lot of lightening in the area and this is not the only tree I have seen damaged in this way.
We have also had very many cows killed by lightening during electrical storms from standing next to a wire fence or beneath powerlines