This afternoon, we had some of the most intences thunder and lightning
storms, it should be stated the other way around but nobody every says it
that way, that I have witnessed since lightning hit my 65 foot ham radio
tower about 10 years ago.  It lasted for well over an hour and storm after
storm bumped into each other as they developed over the mountains.  I was
watching satellite TV news near what I thought was the end of the storm,
famous last words, when the TV blinked off and on.  I thought it was a power
failure but my computer a few feet away didn't reboot so it wasn't that.  A
split second later, the biggest bang you ever heard exploded.  The strike
had to have been in the immediate neighborhood.  Since sat dishes point to
the southern skies, the lightning bolt must have passed through its field of
sight and blocked the incoming sat signal for that split second of time.
That's the only way I could figure it happened.  When you can hear stitic
crashes at those super high sat frequencies, it is closer, way closer, than
you want to be.

Phil.