JASPER COUNTY, Mo. – Just before 5 a.m. Wednesday morning storms across the region produced a lot of rain in some areas and others it seemed to be a lightning show.

NW Jasper County near Spring River one resident, James Roy, shows us a hickory tree in his front yard that looks like it was peeled as if it was a banana.

“There was no fire. Pieces of bark were thrown 43 feet and 50 feet. But they aren’t burned,” he tells us.

“It was loud. About 5 minutes before 5 Wednesday morning, it woke us all up.”

It wasn’t until the sun came up that James and his wife could see the tree was stripped of it’s bark from ground level to about 15 feet up, all the way around. Above the 15 foot mark the tree looks normal. It’s a tall hickory tree, about 100 feet in all.

He says he’s never seen anything like it. It didn’t burn the tree. The bark is not charred. It’s just stripped down.

This is something that isn’t too far out of the ordinary. According to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension it can happen.  Each time a tree is hit by lightning there is going to be a different response, because each tree is different. “A tree’s biological functions and/or structural integrity are affected by lightning strikes. Along the path of the strike, sap boils, steam is generated and cells explode in the wood, leading to strips of wood and bark peeling or being blown off the tree.”

James pointed out the tree is splintered long ways into three sections, so it is obvious the tree will need cut down.

“Hickory makes good firewood!” he says.