An electrifying evening at the Paradise Ranch

At the time of this posting, the Nevada Test Site, Groom Lake, and the Tikaboo Valley have each had their share of dry lighting hits. I archived a few images from the NTS SORD lightning website:




You can view the lightning around central Nevada from this page:
www.sord.nv.doe.gov...

It wouldn't surprise me it that 180ft triangular tower at Groom Lake took a hit. There does appear to be a hit in the vicinity of Tikaboo, but at this scale it could also be Badger Mountain. At the moment the Tikaboo weather station is still functioning, so it didn't take a hit.

Tikaboo weather station

Fire from the dry lightning strikes:

!FDC 2/4105 ZLA FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS, 21 MILES SE OF ALAMO, NV. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.137(A)(2) TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT WITHIN A 7 NAUTICAL MILE RADIUS OF 371023N/1145341W OR THE MORMON MESA /MMM/ VORTAC 293 DEGREE RADIAL AT 38.2 NAUTICAL MILES AT AND BELOW 11000 FEET MSL TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR FIRE FIGHTING. ELY BLM TELEPHONE 775-289-1925 OR FREQ 128.425/DEL FIRE IS IN CHARGE OF THE OPERATION. LOS ANGELES /ZLA/ ARTCC TELEPHONE 661-265-8205 IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY.

I wonder if commercial aviation traffic had been diverted over Groom Lake area to avoid the weather. Unless Groom was hit by thunderstorms as well. Did not see any flight tracking during that time so I do not know.