Lightning

[bearcreek]

i always hunker down, then after a while become hypothermic sitting in the rain. When I think I am freezing to death I get up and resume hiking, lightning be damned. This brilliant strategy has worked so far.

[rocketsocks]

Would I leave my tent in a lightning storm? I did once back in '83 when I was camping on Horn in the West Hill with its lone oak and got spooked and so I de-pegged and dragged the whole tent and everything in it down the hill several hundred yards to get away from "certain death".

Another time I was spooked on a ridge after listening to my radio pinging out a high wind/lightning warning to I packed up everything in the dark and night hiked 2 miles off the ridge to a creek valley. Around midnight I heard the festivities above me and was glad I moved.

Most of the time though you hunker in and hope your tent has enough guylines for 15 stakes and you're ready for a pounding. Should you leave a tent during a lightning storm? Well, you could step out and start running and a bolt could zap you 400 yards away as you make your escape.

Here's a helpful hint: Look carefully in the gap or on the ridge you plan to camp and study the trees. Previously bolt struck trees have a long gouge from the top down the trunk and this is an indicator that the spot is prone to death strikes. Move on or risk it and see what happens.

Best advise I've ever heard and not one mentioned before. Contrary to popular belief, lighting does strike the same place more than once, in fact a lot more as some areas are prone be it the topography, underground water source, or lone pinnacles mineral or organic.

[GinCO]

Lightening is no joke here in CO. I was hiking today at much lower elevation. The lightening today developed in a matter of minutes! But even then, I would bet there were still people heading up Bierstadt even AFTER seeing the first thunder bolts. I would have been running as fast as I could down! Once, while running down a high mountain pass because of approaching lightening, I pass a lady and her husband going UP. she had long hair that was standing straight up. They looked at me like I was crazy and kept going UP. ?? I could feel tingling in my scalp so I took shelter next to an old fallen log while lightening zipped and popped all around. When it let up, I continued down.

http://www.9news.com/story/news/loca...ured/29430355/

[rocketsocks]

Here's a App I like called "Weather bug" that comes with a lightning strike indicator, which for my purposes seems pretty accurate. One is for iphones, the other for andriod.


http://weather.weatherbug.com/mobile...g-for-ios.html


http://weather.weatherbug.com/mobile/android.html

[rocketsocks]

Here's a App I like called "Weather bug" that comes with a lightning strike indicator, which for my purposes seems pretty accurate. One is for iphones, the other for andriod.


http://weather.weatherbug.com/mobile...g-for-ios.html


http://weather.weatherbug.com/mobile/android.html

...and you can also down load it to your computer for home use.

[BirdBrain]

From the National Severe Storm Laboratory.

"Does lightning strike from the sky down, or the ground up?

The answer is both. Cloud-to-ground lightning comes from the sky down, but the part you see comes from the ground up. A typical cloud-to-ground flash lowers a path of negative electricity (that we cannot see) towards the ground in a series of spurts. Objects on the ground generally have a positive charge. Since opposites attract, an upward streamer is sent out from the object about to be struck. When these two paths meet, a return stroke zips back up to the sky. It is the return stroke that produces the visible flash, but it all happens so fast - in about one-millionth of a second - so the human eye doesn't see the actual formation of the stroke."

The whole can be read here.

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/s...lightning/faq/

Understanding the dynamics at work can help you better choose safe spots and avoid high risk areas. There is a reason why some spots get hit more often. Some areas provide a better supply of electrons than others. Contrary to the common thinking, lightning is not entirely random bolts being hurled at whatever is closest.

[Mags]

That's funny. But when prayer doesn't do the trick, cursing might. As per Twain: "Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."

Being raised Catholic with a certain ethnic background, religious terms and cursing seem to go together rather well in certain situations.

Like lightning.

Best of both worlds, really.

[MaryandMarc]

I have heard the t-storms are hitting earlier than usual this summer. Anyone out there find this to be the case?

[San Juan Ron]

I have heard the t-storms are hitting earlier than usual this summer. Anyone out there find this to be the case?

The past 10 days have been very wet in the San Juan Mountains with rain everyday. Several mornings have seen rain. The good news for hikers has been that the temps have been very cool (high of 60 and low of 35 today at 9400 feet) which has kept the Lightning/thunder to a minimum. The bad news has been the trail is very muddy. Ron (PS in the short term, drier air is supposed to be coming)

[Wülfgang]

Anyone who has spent considerable time hiking in CO has had close encounter with lightning. It is not a joke here, and I don't think many people grasp that until they are caught in an apocalyptic thunderstorm.

The times I have been caught I:

1) RAN down the mountain as fast as I could without injuring myself
2) Squatted down and prayed under a cluster of trees (not the tallest trees)
3) Became acutely aware of my mortality and the presence of God

The BEST place you can be is somewhere grounded like a building or vehicle.
If outdoors, moving under the trees or in your tent well below treeline is better.
The WORST place is stationary on any exposed area.

[Coffee]

It's serious and intense out there in Colorado. I never experienced anything like it before my hike last year. The Sierra is mellow in comparison. On the AT there are usually plenty of trees for cover.

[Ercoupe]

Many times on the CT heading southwest, you are hiking into the approaching weather and cannot see it until you reach a pass. Hike early.

[Coffee]

Sometimes hiking early means a pre-dawn start. I started a few days at 4am when I knew that I would be above treeline for 15-20 miles. On one occasion in particular this really paid off. And pre-dawn hiking is actually kind of interesting. The only CDT thru hikers I met on the trip were also hiking very early.