Extreme Lightning Strike Is Too Close For Comfort

Australia has hosted some intense weather recently, from record heat to blankets of bizarre beach foam. Still, there’s no weather that will make your hair stand up (literally) like a good, old-fashioned lightning strike.

Cameraman Jeff Miles got a little too close to the action in Western Australia recently. The YouTube description for the video, which was posted to an extreme weather channel on Jan. 28, called the clip a “near death experience as a result of intense lightning.”

Judging by Miles’ reaction, we’d say he was legitimately scared. (Warning: Video contains some explicit language.)

Some commenters on Reddit, where the video was posted Jan. 29, split hairs over the exact expletive Miles might have used, while others shared personal accounts of close calls with lightning strikes.

Judging by this local news broadcast, a bootleg version of which was posted to YouTube Jan. 4, the strike may likely have been filmed during an intense heat wave that enveloped Australia in early 2013.

Earlier this year, Australia was scorched by a massive “dome of heat” that sparked wildfires and smashed the country’s record for average maximum temperature.

In November 2012, a passenger stranded at Brisbane International Airport snapped a perfectly timed photo of lightning that appeared to hit a plane.

During that storm, more than 22,000 recorded lightning strikes hit southeastern Queensland, according to the Australian.

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Extreme Lightning Strike Is Too Close For Comfort