Bird,
Let me pass this advice along, don't even THINK about mowing in a thunderstorm. Back in the summer of 1993 I was mowing around our house with my JD 318, we live on a high spot and there is a huge black walnut tree in our front yard. I could see lightning flashes a few miles away but kept on mowing until the rain began pelting down hard....I put the JD away in the barn and ran to the back door of the house. Went thru the kitchen into the dining room to warn my spouse to turn off the computer (no surge protector) just in time. Five seconds later a huge lightning bolt hit the walnut tree about 35 feet from the side of the house, the thunderclap sounded like a stick of dynamite had gone off. Bark was blown off the tree 75 feet away and the surge fried several electronic devices. If I had been 30 seconds later getting to the house I would have witnessed the bolt hitting the tree in the front yard, to this day I wonder how I would have reacted to the sight.
Lessons learned:
Don't mow in the rain if you see lightning, even if it's miles away.
Buy quality surge protectors or backup power supplies for your electronic equipment, they are cheaper than paying for repairs or replacements.
