Couple Struck by Lightning on a Clear Day Near Karlstad

On a beautiful July day, Nathalie, 37, and her partner Morgan, 39, were working on a construction project in their garden. Although they were aware of thunderstorms a few kilometers away, the sky above them was clear. Suddenly, lightning struck right between them.

"It was a loud bang and everything lit up in front of me," Nathalie recalls.

The couple, Nathalie Nyman and Morgan Zetterlund, living outside Karlstad, had a summer project to build a patio with a pergola.

On a Sunday in July, the weather was perfect for some carpentry work.

"It was very nice and warm, and the sun was shining. So we went ahead," says Nathalie.

Electricity Surged Through Their Arms

Morgan climbed onto one of the wooden structures they were building and handed a tape measure down to Nathalie to measure a board.

Just as Nathalie grabbed the tape measure, the lightning struck.

"It was a loud bang and everything lit up in front of me. I felt electricity surge through my arms," Nathalie describes.

She likens the bright flash to looking into an intense welding flame.

"It was really unpleasant and scary."

"What Just Happened?"

A moment later, she stood there, shocked by what had happened.

"When I finally let go of the tape measure, I ran away, afraid more lightning would come."

Only after they both got inside the house could they collect themselves.

"I thought, 'What just happened, what did we just experience?'"

They knew there had been thunderstorms a few kilometers away. They had seen some lighter clouds but heard no thunder or rain nearby.

"We never could have imagined this would happen. We would never have gone out to work in the garden if we had."

Experiencing Pain and Numbness

While inside, looking out, Nathalie began to feel a tingling sensation in one arm.

"It tingled through my chest and into my left arm. It went numb a bit and ached in a muscle."

They called 1177 and were advised to go to the emergency room. There, they were thoroughly examined, but according to the doctor, all blood tests and measurements looked good.

When they returned home from the hospital that evening, Nathalie pondered what could have happened.

"We were very lucky. But I thought, 'If something worse had happened, if Morgan had died, what would I have done then?' It was hard to let go," she says.