considering Seattle
1878 Folk-Lore Record 43 [Fittleworth, Sussex] Mothers teach their children to say -- Beware the oak, It draws the stroke; Avoid an ash, It courts the flash; Creep under the thorn, It can save you from harm.
It is a plausible theory that the reverence which the ancient peoples of Europe paid to the oak, and the connexion which they traced between the tree and their sky-god, were derived from the much greater frequency with which the oak appears to be struck by lightning than any other tree of our European forests. This peculiarity of the tree has seemingly been established by a series of observations instituted within recent years by scientific enquirers who have no mythological theory to maintain.
* A frequently struck tree is the oak. It has a deep central root that goes beneath the tree, as well as hollow water-filled cells that run up and down the wood of the oak's trunk. These two qualities make oak trees better grounded and more conductive than trees with shallow roots and closed cells.
*
A Seattle perk?