Surviving a Lightning Storm

[bobbydean]

Ages ago, in my youth, hiked into the Pecos Wilderness accessing at the Santa Fe Ski Basin. Early May, I was looking for some great early trout fishing in Spirit Lake. Got within a 2-3 miles of the lake and ran into solid snow banks. I was in cut offs. Didn't think, stupid.

Didn't want to waste the weekend, so I hiked out to the shoulder of Mr Baldy, set up camp, whiskey and water and I was set/

The lightning started up, Big boulders. You could see the lightning bouncing from rock to rock. I was never so afraid in my life. I broke camp and off the mountain as fast as hell. Scared the hell out of me!

 

[BirdDogWebb]

Learn from well understood concepts. For example, lightning must connect a cloud to earthborne charges maybe five miles away. A shortest path is three mile directly down to a tree. Then four miles through earth.

A cow was standing maybe 30 feet from the tree. Therefore killed by a direct strike - a current incoming and outgoing through its body. The incoming current is maybe its hind legs. Outgoing via its fore legs to those distant charges. One example of how direct lightning strikes can pass through a body.

Some campers were sleeping adjacent to a tree when it was struck. Campers sleeping tangent were unharmed. Campers sleeping pointed to the tree required immediate hospitalization.

So, what to do? Keep your feet together. So that the body only has an incoming path and no outgoing path.

Experts who write papers on this also recommend squatting down with arm together.

However geology is important. Lightning strikes mountain tops less often. Strikes are more often to the mountainside or the valley where more electrically conductive geology exists. A strike is determined by a geological connection to distant charges. If ground beneath the soil is a more conductive rock, then a human is at greater risk.

Some gold courses may have a shed to protect from rain. But to also protect from lightning, the shed should be surrounded by a buried ground wire loop. Then the incoming and outgoing path is that wire loop. And not humans inside the shed.

Some laymen do not learn the science. Then assume lightning is capricious. The danger is well understood. But many never learned from above examples and the science. Protection is always about connecting lightning to earth on a path that never passes through the body.

Welcome to the forum!
Thanks for the info. Very interesting read.
As mentioned earlier "I have noticed in the past while hunting ridgelines that were a third the elevation of the crest of the mountain, were trees, in a close proximity, had been struck. Some bared scars from recent strikes and some had scars from past years."
You just helped me to understand the reasoning for that, somewhat.

There is a church several miles up the road. The steeple has been struck several times over the years. This last time, they finally decided to put lightning rods (protectors) on the building. Just as you speak of , the loop, rods connected to wire cables covering the building, connected to ground rods.

So it's not necessary the trees or the steeple "attracting" the lightning, it's more less the electrically conductive geology.

 

[RobG]

However geology is important. Lightning strikes mountain tops less often. Strikes are more often to the mountainside or the valley where more electrically conductive geology exists. A strike is determined by a geological connection to distant charges. If ground beneath the soil is a more conductive rock, then a human is at greater risk.

Do you have any more info on this? It is very interesting to an engineer like me.

 

[westom]

Do you have any more info on this? It is very interesting to an engineer like me.

Ir I remember correctly, start with research performed by Dr Mary Ann Cooper of the U of Illinois. Of course Dr Uman's old book (All About Lightning) (if I remember the title) is also good reading.

 

[BillyGoat]

However geology is important. Lightning strikes mountain tops less often. Strikes are more often to the mountainside or the valley where more electrically conductive geology exists. A strike is determined by a geological connection to distant charges. If ground beneath the soil is a more conductive rock, then a human is at greater risk.

This was something I was unaware of until last year when I was deer hunting in central Idaho. I was hiking up a trail at first light and smelled fire and then came across this smoldering tree which must have been hit by lightning (nobody else was in the area). You can see from the 2nd photo how low in the valley it was. I always thought lightning would hit the ridgelines. This was 3rd week of Oct.

 

[Z Barebow]

I found some info. The one gives some of the basics at towers, but the other two links are very applicable.

http://www.backpacker.com/survival-lightning-myths-busted/survival/16712

http://www.protectiongroup.com/Prot...PapersandTechnicalNotes/1485-033.pdf?ext=.pdf

http://rendezvous.nols.edu/files/Cu...S Backcountry Lightning Safety Guidelines.pdf

 

[elk_hunter]

Those are some great links; thanks Z