Well, it's the rainy season now in Central Mexico, and that means pretty ferocious electrical storms at night. It is not unusual for a storm to last several hours, with forty, fifty, or more lightning flashes per minute, and water running down the streets toward the lake so fast and deep that it is dangerous to try to walk across it.

The great majority (95% plus ) of the lightning flashes are cloud to cloud, but that still leaves two or three ground strikes per minute as the storm rolls through. These storms will happen several times a week for the next three months. Then, we might go eight months without measurable rainfall until the next rainy season starts.

Rainy season by nearly unanimous opinion is the absolutely best time of year. The storms come only at night, and everything is lush and green, and the temperature drops from the mid to high eighties during the day down into the sixties at night.

However... those lightning strikes have me concerned. When the storm comes in, what should I do to protect my electronics? Everything of any value is on surge protectors. The computers and peripherals are on APC Uninterruptible Power Supplies. I power everything down except the refrigerator when I hear the thunder starting. Is that enough?

Or should I take it a step further and open the circuit breakers on the expensive stuff? That would give an extra layer of protection to the refrigerator, the laser printer, and the air conditioners.

Would turning the UPS's OFF accomplish anything useful? Of course, if I open the breaker for the computer circuit, the UPS's have to be turned off or they'll start beeping.

Perhaps none of it would be enough if I got a direct hit on the transformer that is less than 50 feet from my house. A lightning strike can be a Billion volts at more than 100,000 amperes. That kind of power wouldn't even slow down for an open breaker.

Am I just living a lottery here?

tanstaafl.