Lightning While In a Hammock

[kirkerik]

What I would worry about is this : Any tree has an abundance of water inside it , when lightning hits a tree it immediatly vaporizes the water content of the tree turning it into steam , the steam has no where to go but out which creates an "explosion" . If the tree is small enough in diameter it could create shrapnel of varying sizes , all of which would be wizzing through the air faster than a bullet .

Define small enough? is it possible? I've seen evidence of a maybe 18" diameter tree hit by lightning. The tree (hemlock-a favorite)was in chards down to about my waist level. Big spear like splinters were thrown in many directions! Quite a distance too! OUCH! A large chard was maybe 15'-20' long.

They are quite dense and would squash a feller.....

Then they could eat you - hahah Mushy breakfast time.

I was just walking the woods by my cabin (20 year old pine) and saw a lot of trees that had recently been struck this spring. Most of them just exploded on the top and left about 15' remaining. I don't what kind of shrapnel is created, but they don't seem to ever explode down to the roots...

see above - not quite down to the roots but pretty intense anyways.