Rare lightning injures teenager
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
CARIBOU — A teenager who was sledding with friends in the waning hours of school vacation was critically injured by a lightning strike that knocked him and two friends unconscious.
Steven Crowley, 15, and two friends were standing at the top of a hill when there was a flash and boom followed by eerie silence Sunday afternoon at the municipal golf course, a popular place for sledding.
"I saw an electric blue streak. Then the kids fell over like cards," said Ron Rosser, who was in a church group van 30 feet away.
Rosser and others from the church group rushed to help Crowley and 16-year-olds Morgan Bosse and Laureen McElwain.
Jeff Robertson and another bystander tried to resuscitate Crowley, while Robertson's wife and Rosser assisted the girls. The lightning burned a hole through the sweater of one of the girls, Rosser said.
Crowley was in critical condition Monday afternoon at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, a spokeswoman said. The girls were both treated and released from Cary Medical Center in Caribou.
Thunderstorms are rare in the winter in Maine, and it's even rarer for someone to be struck by lightning in the winter, said Mark Bloomer, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Caribou.
Like summer thunderstorms, the storms that formed on Sunday were created by warm and cold air meeting. But unlike summer storms, the instability occurred higher in the atmosphere instead of close to ground, Bloomer said. The storm produced thunderclaps and sleet.
In Caribou, Robertson said there were no warning signs —no thunder, no flashes — before lighting struck.