Talk to me about lightening storms in the mountains

We were fishing in a small mountain lake when a storm suddenly came over the ridge right on top of us. We just hunkered down near the timber and tried to get as small as we could. The weird part was that the temperature dropped drastically, and we got about three inches of snow in about 20 minutes.

Not high elevation but another time we were fishing from my canoe in a place called Kelly's Slough. The storm didn't move in but rather just built up right over us. the first lightning strike was a ground strike a couple of hundred yards away. We headed for shore, laid the canoe on its side and got down behind it. We weren't dressed for rain but luckily my partner did have a poncho. The wind blew probably 40 MPH and there was quarter size hail blowing Sideways in that wind. We held that poncho up to block the hail. It still beat the hell out of our knuckles but I'm sure glad he had that poncho.
 
Dang. My son and I were scouting last weekend, got chased off the rim by lightning around 10pm on Saturday. Never saw the storm building, it was completely blocked by the ridge. Heard some rumbles and checked the radar, red thunderstorm cell building 5 miles due north heading due south. Made him sit in the truck while I threw our stuff in the bed, and we drove the 11 mile dirt "road"/2 track off the rim and out of harms way.
 
Had 2 trees hit within 100 yards of my house this week.
One juniper is totally shattered and a pinion was split in two.

About 25 years ago I sat on a bench in Layfayete Park with my coffee every morning for a week, before the full day of DC stuff.
Several folks got hit there the other day. Not a good spot to sit out a storm.
 
So true when you know somebody killed it changes your perspective 180 degrees. Good friend rowing boat trying to get to shore, got hit and died. I've been on Missionary Ridge in nasty storm where 40-50+mph winds trees were crashing along with strikes to ground. Pucker factor got new level of definition. We hunkered down in the lee of of rock ledge with stuff blowing over our heads down the ridge. Just got as tight to rock wall as we could. Buddy was telling me in middle of storm how ground strikes can be more dangerous and can get you as fast as direct hit. Gee, thank you for raising my anxiety even more. We heard it coming fast and was able to find this ledge for cover. In mountains, the speed of storms are critically underestimated which contributes to increased risks. IMO, if you can see or hear it, find cover fast. Do not wait to see if it is going to hit your area. Too late then.
 
Over the years I’ve seen ranching family members do all sorts of risky moves with side hill tractors, deep trenching without wall supports, running live electrical connections, standing on “ladders” way above weight and height limits etc etc, with abandon. They also keep their heads on a swivel in the high country, and at the first hint of a storm building start heading down below treeline.

As cavalier as they are with farm/ranch work, they DO NOT PLAY with lightning.
 
I've been in the backcountry many a time during lightning storms, and have as yet to have any incidents. What I've wondered about though, is that I've been on horses, trying to get out of the area, and wonder if their steel horse shoes makes them more vunerable to getting zapped?
 
windymtnman said:
I've been in the backcountry many a time during lightning storms, and have as yet to have any incidents. What I've wondered about though, is that I've been on horses, trying to get out of the area, and wonder if their steel horse shoes makes them more vunerable to getting zapped?
Click to expand...
Only if they hold them over their heads.
 
So the article says to stay away from high points. Stay away from trees. Stay away from open spots.
So where do you go then?
 
When I was a student at Utah State University, we had 2 students die.
One died of hypothermia when his sea kayak overturned in the Great Salt Lake.
The other died of a lighting strike while mountain biking down near Moab.

As youngsters we thought we were bullet-proof and looking back I did lots of foolish things
Those deaths changed my attitude about safety in the backcountry.
 
Sivart said:
So the article says to stay away from high points. Stay away from trees. Stay away from open spots.
So where do you go then?
Click to expand...
The basic idea is you want to not be the "antenna" that connects the imbalance of electrical energy in the atmosphere v the earth. A tall spire of anything sticking up above its surrounding is to be avoided. Thus the tip of a promontory (often picked for a good glassing spot), a taller tree in a forest, and you in an open spot being 6 feet taller that the surrounding terrain, and thus being a focus of electrical energy to escape.

If you start to see your head hair "stand up on end", or feel the hair on your arms "tingle" you have perhaps a few seconds to make yourself a less likely antenna than your surroundings. Back in the day, the Boy Scouts taught that dropping down into a squatting position, so that you are on the balls of your feet will reduce your conductivity to the earth. Get away from wet surfaces on the earth and do not be in contact with non insulated metal surfaces. Theoretically persons inside a car/truck/airplane that are hit will not have lightning injuries to worry about. Folks sitting in a football stadium on the aluminium bleachers are theoretically at higher risk.

Lightning will kill one of a couple of ways. Cardiac activity is driven by coordinated waves of electricity causing a useful heartbeat to pump blood. A strike can knock that system out and thus the victim dies. Should there be a person struck and is now non moving, and the rescuer determines that there is no pulse, CPR rescue breathing/chest compressions (I'm old school) should be initiated to possibly save their life. There can also be a huge amount of heat and concussive shock force accompanying a lightning strike which can cause internal and external organ damages.

My cousin was electrocuted when he grabbed a sheet of galvanized roofing that was in contact with a hot electrical line, and the electricity went through him, exiting to the earth through his cowboy boots. Those boots had its soles attached to the footbed with metal fasteners which perhaps grounded him more than if it was all rubber in contact with the earth. He lost toes and lots of skin off his arm in that deal.
 
Did you know that when lightning hits a granite rock the color is first red and then blue? Neither did I until a strike hit about 75 yards away from me as I was trying to get my pack off and dig out my rain gear. I was looking right at the small ridge when it hit. This was August 4th in east central Nevada. Did you also know that the pucker factor of a strike that close is -10? I do now.
 
Try being on the gun tower of an avalauncher with about 20 pounds of explosives when one of those warm spring storms rolls over the ridge and the whole tower starts buzzing. Here’s our sign it’s time to leave! Ski as fast as you can!
 
The first experience that I can remember with lightning was just before I left Vietnam in 1970. A bunch of us were sitting around a helipad waiting for a flight out when a bolt of lightning hit a powerpole on the other side of the pad. You never saw a bunch of GIs hit the ground any quicker.

Shortly after I moved to Montana I was living and working at a Forest Service Ranger District office in northern Montana. We had a manned fire lookout tower on top of the mountain behind our District office. This fire lookout had lightning rods with ground wires on the top of the lookout and at each of the four corners of the roof. We had a young couple that lived and worked in the lookout, and all of their chairs, table, and bedposts had thick glass insulators over the bottom of the legs.

At one of the monthly District safety meetings the young couple from the lookout asked if they could get ear muffs, as their tower had been hit with lightning 15 times the previous week, and the roar of the thunder that close was deafening.

In 1978 a friend and I took my horses back into the Madison Range in SW Montana to scout for the mountain goat tag that I had drawn. We were each leading a horse that was carrying our camp. Shortly after crossing over the top of the divide a lightning storm was crossing the Madison Valley coming toward us. We were above timberline and at least a half mile to the nearest cover. So we decided to put 100 yards or so between us so we wouldn't be together if lightning hit.

Another time I was called to do some blasting work back in the Wilderness east of Gardiner, MT. One of the guys from that Ranger District went in with me. We each rode a saddle horse and we packed our personal gear and the dynamite on a mule. At the end of the blasting project I still had one full case of dynamite, so we packed it and our gear out on the mule. By the time we got to Hellroaring Flats (a big, wide open area) a lightning storm approached us.

We made it to the edge of the Flats as quick as we could, and I told my partner that we should tie up the mule about 50 yards away from us so if lightning would strike him, we wouldn't be blown up by the dynamite in his pack.
 
GoGriz1234 said:
No matter what your strategy is, few things are as exhilarating as being caught in a high mountain lightening storm - gets the heart pumping!
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Exhilarating?? I think of it as more of pantsshittin. My wife always worries when I go in the mountains hunting cuz of "bears, lions, cliffs" I tell her she has it all wrong and if she wanted to worry it should be lightning. I will never forget when I was fishing and a storm was approaching and I had a lot of slack in my line and instead of it drooping down the line was floating up in an arch and my rod was buzzing. I got the hell out of there and got the rod out of my hand
 
One of my craziest days elk hunting followed a wicked lightning storm. I parked after shooting light at one of my favorite off highway spots in the madres and as soon as I got out to listen there were bulls screaming on both sides of the highway right around the truck. I didn’t wanna mess things up so I tucked in the backseat to get some sleep. A couple hours later a hellish thunderstorm hit and lightning was hitting trees so close I could orange flashes of light multiple times. I’m not gonna lie, even though I was in the truck I was scared, and alone. After a couple hours it stopped, and I had had to pee hours ago but I was too scared to get out and didn’t have a bottle I wanted to pee in in the truck. I wondered what that crazy storm would have done to the elk.

I got out and the elk were still tearing it up all around me like nothing had even happened. A few hours later I screwed up and got caught in the “open” on a logging road while a 6pt and two spikes walked by at 20 yards. I’ll never forget that night though.
 
My worst fear as a lake patrol ranger was the few thunderstorm days we had and clearing the lake from an aluminum patrol boat.
 
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