Dealing with Thunderstorms

[la.lindsey]

I don't know that this is relevant here: do hills and small mountains and high mountains all have this in common?

There is the ground potential that runs high, during a lightning storm.

It travels along the ground, so as a mountainclimber, I was taught do not lie down on the ground, do not get under an overhand or outcrop (to provide a shorter path) and get all metal far from you and crouch on your dry-bag climbing rope or backpack in a place where you are not the tallest object.

If I hear thunder, I am in full "alert mode" to get optimize my chances.

If in the forecast, that is a "zero day" or a "near-o" day: I just don't mess with it.

Lightning storms are beautiful, freshen the air with oxygen, and so, are refreshing in hot humid weather, and are best enjoyed experienced with relative safety.

I would rather be outdoors, after the lightning storm.

I think there must be a difference; I know the NOC will continue to raft during lightning storms because the trees act as lightning rods (according to a raft guide I met)..

In the case of the storm I was in last weekend, I was more worried about missiles (flying limbs and branches) or falling trees than intermittent lightning. Trees are much taller than I am and being in dense woods offers protection from lightning.

What we're told at my construction site is that small metal objects only influence lightning if it's close by, in which case you're already screwed.

If you made any day with a chance of thunderstorms a zero day, you wouldn't be hiking much in the southeast in the summer. Exhibit 1: forecast for Hot Springs, NC.

[rocketsocks]

Lightning storms are beautiful, freshen the air with oxygen, and so, are refreshing in hot humid weather, and are best enjoyed experienced with relative safety.

i think it makes ozone???

[double d]

Lots of great advice here on WB, but as others have said, its no fun to be caught in a T-Storm at night, so..set up camp at lower elevation, watch out for tall trees and as TipiWalter has said, hope to not get hit when you've done your part to minimize the chance of getting hit. The worst place I got caught was in Colorado on the CT, nasty experience, but follow the rules of hiking/camping in T-Storms and you should be "okay".

[PGH1NC]

I am wondering if anyone has information or experiences with thunderstorms while tenting near an AT shelter, being in the shelter and or moving down since shelters are near the ridge, especially in Shenandoah National park.

Does shelter construction have any effects on relative safety?

[DownEaster]

Shelters may have tin roofs, but the rest of the structure doesn't have any long conductive paths.

I've been in a shelter on the AT in Maine during a hurricane. I was so tired after going over/around blowdowns all day (and hearing more trees falling around me as I hiked) that I conked out as soon as I got dry and into my sleeping bag, despite the incredible cacophony of rain beating down overhead. The roof may have been hit by lightning during the night for all I knew or cared.

[MuddyWaters]

I am wondering if anyone has information or experiences with thunderstorms while tenting near an AT shelter, being in the shelter and or moving down since shelters are near the ridge, especially in Shenandoah National park.

Does shelter construction have any effects on relative safety?

People have been killed in shelters by lightning...
In places where they are the highest thing around
Like on top of Mt Whitney


If your NOT the tallest thing around, your chances are pretty good
Which is why dont build shelters on ridgeline
A shelter can, and has, been hit by lightning.
But falling tree is liable to be a greater threat