If you pay attention to the Pear Tree Observatory weather station you may have noticed that it went off the air sometime between 05:50 and 05:55 this morning. Below is a picture of the guilty party.
The lightning struck the one remaining tree in the front yard. It debarked a spiral path down the trunk and along a large branch that reaches out toward the house. I can’t find any damage to the house so I don’t know if the branch provided the final path to ground or not. The damage to the tree looks extensive so we may lose it. If I were to pick, I would have preferred it be a tree in the back yard. There are several that limit the view of the sky.
I was able to bring most everything back on line with backup components and alternate wiring. But right now the electronic damage is the 3 month old HP color laser printer, the Netgear switch in the house and another Netgear switch and the router in the observatory. Two weather station receivers were also lost.
The major loss would be the oak tree. It alone survived the hurricanes, tree climbing youngsters and amateur attempts at landscaping. It provides shade to an entire half of the front yard at a time.