View Full Version : Facts and myths about lightning
I just read this sheet published by NWS on lightning safety.
Reason I bring it up here is that I have read or been told that when lightning threatens you as a hiker (while you're on or near a peak), you can crouch down as low to the ground as possible with only your feet and not your hands touching the ground. Also, if you use your rubber coated air mattress between the ground and your feet, that will further reduce your chances of being struck.
The fact is that you do not reduce your chance of being struck with these practices. You only reduce your chance of being electrocuted by ground currents caused by a close lightning strike.
The best and only option is to get quickly into the forest, and, if possible, lower on the mountain, where you are not an isolated object. While you do still have a chance of being hit by a tree which has been struck and falls, that chance, or that of you being hit directly are orders of magnitude lower than your chance of being hit directly while you are an isolated object at any point on the Earth, whether a mountain top or a soccer field.
Read the myths and facts here:
http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/myths.shtml
Arden
The last time I was nervous about lightning, I went FASTER.
Figured that if I get hit I don't want to be lollygagging along.
I can't find any evidence that moving faster can reduce your chances of being hit. If your body has sent out a "positive streamer" - you feel a tingling sensation and/or your hair stands on end, it is probably too late. You need to get as low to the ground and with as small contact area as possible (the lightning squat), and hold your breath so you don't breathe in the superheated air from the lightning bolt.
Moving faster may only drag that positive streamer along, and perhaps even move you closer to the point of direct hit. Best advice is to get into a low spot, in among trees which are lower than surrounding trees, and never be the highest object.
You should always be aware of the weather that is approaching you. Carrying a weather band radio is a good idea. I suppose you could get weather on your phone, but you need a data connection - which is not always available.
I always carry my dual-band (2m, 70cm) amateur radio HT, which also receives the weather band.
BirdBrain
07-23-2015, 23:25
I use the LATS method. That works pretty good. If you see a cumulonimbus cloud coming your way, don't go up.
mrcoffeect
07-24-2015, 05:58
BB could you please elaborate on the LATS.
BirdBrain
07-24-2015, 09:32
BB could you please elaborate on the LATS.
It is going to sound sarcastic. It is not. Most people don't carry a weather station. Many push through dangerous situations. I was scurrying down to rt 2 coming out of the Mahoosucs. I could hear the thunder approaching. I passed 5 that were going up. As I was crossing rt 2, lightning was hitting the hills behind me. People need to use common sense. LATS stands for Look At The Sky. Honestly, I am not being sarcastic. Look around. Don't chance it. Thunderstorms move in quickly. Often they move out quickly. People should be able to wait them out. In hot weather up here, I try to get over the big peaks early in the day. That sometimes requires planning to be at the base the night before. Plan, look around, don't take chances.
Meriadoc
07-24-2015, 09:41
That NOAA link is a place to start. NOLS has a very good writeup on how lightning works and how to work with different situations to manage the risk.
http://rendezvous.nols.edu/files/Curriculum/research_projects/BackcountryLightningSafety.pdf
rocketsocks
07-24-2015, 09:44
I thought it stood for "get below tree line If you hear Lightning And Thunder Stupid"
BirdBrain
07-24-2015, 09:49
I thought it stood for "get below tree line If you hear Lightning And Thunder Stupid"
I am pretty sure the A stands for "away" somehow. I didn't want to offend. So I left the real meaning out. :D
rocketsocks
07-24-2015, 09:52
I am pretty sure the A stands for "away" somehow. I didn't want to offend. So I left the real meaning out. :Dah yes the pretty blue light. ;)
I was hiking on the Long Path / Escarpment trail in the Catskills from North Lake through to Windham one very hot July 4th. I wanted to tent on North Point, but after listening to NOAA forecast I decided to descent into a lonely col between North and Stoppel points. There were severe TS all around, although none in my immediate area. Still, I was much more relaxed to know that I was in a low spot, and among small trees surrounded by larger ones. Wasn't even a real tent site, but it served the purpose. Of course there were people on the summit - and none were hit by lightning - but more often than not, it's the peace of mind knowing you are not in a susceptible spot. All it takes is common sense - which seems to be so uncommon these days!
Another Kevin
07-25-2015, 22:47
I was hiking on the Long Path / Escarpment trail in the Catskills from North Lake through to Windham one very hot July 4th. I wanted to tent on North Point, but after listening to NOAA forecast I decided to descent into a lonely col between North and Stoppel points. There were severe TS all around, although none in my immediate area. Still, I was much more relaxed to know that I was in a low spot, and among small trees surrounded by larger ones. Wasn't even a real tent site, but it served the purpose. Of course there were people on the summit - and none were hit by lightning - but more often than not, it's the peace of mind knowing you are not in a susceptible spot. All it takes is common sense - which seems to be so uncommon these days!
That's a bad area for lightning.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3770/10031459724_d260077bc6_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ghrRu9)
Two summers ago I was up on Blackhead when I saw the thunderclouds start to obscure the Devil's Path, moving my way. I booked it down the north side, and those are scrambles that cannot be rushed. I made it down to Batavia Kill shelter about half a minute before the heavens opened. I was hearing widowmakers crashing down in the woods around it all night long. The roof leaked and the place smelt like a hamster cage, but any port in a storm - literally.
Was that derelict airplane still up there? That was an interesting site. I don't remember its exact location, but somewhere between Batavia and Blackhead mtns I think.
Different Socks
07-27-2015, 14:33
Most people affected by lightning strikes are actually hit by the "splash lightning". Very few suffer direct hits. I personally know this, b/c I I have been hit by the splash twice. So don't stand near mean when it's happening. I've had at least 1 doz other occurrences that could easily have made it a 3rd splash and I don't wish to make it "3rd times the charm" for me.
Another Kevin
07-27-2015, 17:41
Was that derelict airplane still up there? That was an interesting site. I don't remember its exact location, but somewhere between Batavia and Blackhead mtns I think.
The Escarpment crash that's on trail is on Stoppel Point. There's a crashed glider on the east side of the Escarpment near the Batavia Kill junction but I've never been to the glider. It looks like a pretty scary bushwhack. (And I've got a pretty high tolerance for bushwhacks. I've done Stoppel from Winter Clove before.)
Some time soon I want to try to locate the B-25 on the east side of the ridge between Balsam Cap and Friday, want to come along?
Another Kevin
07-27-2015, 17:48
Most people affected by lightning strikes are actually hit by the "splash lightning". Very few suffer direct hits. I personally know this, b/c I I have been hit by the splash twice. So don't stand near mean when it's happening. I've had at least 1 doz other occurrences that could easily have made it a 3rd splash and I don't wish to make it "3rd times the charm" for me.
I think I may have been hit by it as well. I remember one time when I was going over a hill where people had pitched a couple of tents (none of them were occupied, the people were out gathering wood or something).The storm came through, and I was trying to hurry off the top of the hill, and then ... something happened. Next thing I can remember, I was lying flat on my face on on the ground and a tent about fifty feet away was in flames. I must have blacked out and fallen over when the lightning hit the tent and presumably splashed over into me.
(Don't judge me too harshly. Nobody knew about "assuming the lightning position" forty years ago. Running downhill to get to less exposed ground was the usual practice.)