Footage shared Tuesday showed the moment two completely oblivious tourists had no idea they were potentially about to die.
The video shows what appears to be two women literally touching static electricity in the air at Horseshoe Bend, Arizona, according to the post from AccuWeather. The hair on one woman is standing straight up into the air, a key indicator of potentially imminent death from “positive streamers,” a precursor to a lightning storm where positive charges on the ground increase, making tall objects highly conductive, according to the National Weather Service.
In layman’s terms, the two women might as well have been waving a golf club around while standing on a metal ladder in a swimming pool during an electrical storm. “Positive streamers” are the number one signal for immediate evacuation from an area, according to BNN Breaking. But the two women seemed like they were having too much fun.
“Static electricity creates hair-raising and life-threatening situation,” AccuWeather captioned the incident.
You can literally hear the electricity! pic.twitter.com/M3t96CuPc2
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) February 27, 2024
The now-viral video was taken back in 2023 but only became popular in recent days due to the serious learning moment it created for people all over the world. (RELATED: If You Think Close-Up Tornado Videos Are Scary, Wait Till You See What Else Is Coming…)
“If this ever happens to you, get down and get away from the area immediately,” some guy under the alias Marlboro Jesus commented. I have to agree with him, and not just because I love Marlboros and Jesus. Hair-raising prior to a lightning storm is Geography 101 in Britain, but clearly this isn’t taught wherever these women are from.
People struck by lightning can die immediately from cardiac arrest, hemorrhage, stroke, tissue injuries as well as deep thermal burns, according to Atrium Health. Even if you’re not directly struck by lightning, just being close to a strike zone can cause life-threatening injuries.