How to Avoid Lightning in the Wilderness

[ukknifer]

Hi all,

Any tips other than this:
%

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Stay lucky, I guess.

 

[OwenM]

I've always heard that you shouldn't stand under trees....or out in the open
I wonder if you should move more slowly or quickly, too. Hmmm. Slow occupies less space for more time, but fast occupies more spaces, even if for less time.
Quite the dilemna. I guess the best way to avoid lightning in the wilderness is to stay out of the wilderness, like those people who talk about having daypacks with 50lbs. of survival stuff do-which is a good thing, since their pile of metal tools would probably be like a lightning rod if they ever actually went outside with it on

 

[Esav Benyamin]

We were at a softball game in Central Park in NYC when the rain came pouring down. There was a long low brick building alongside the field and a couple of guys looked out and told us all to come inside -- it was a Parks Dep't workshop, and we rode out the storm in there.

When the rain ended and we went back out, we saw a nearby tree had been BLASTED by lightning. Very bad feeling ...

 

[Pritch]

Don't be the highest point in the vicinity. Don't seek refuge under a high point. Shed any metal objects. If on or in the water, get off/out. Find a ditch or depression but be mindful of flood potential. Squat low. If in a group, spread out. A vehicle makes a good shelter option, but don't touch any metal inside.

 

[Codger_64]

There was an up-to-date article in Backpacker Magazine recently. I'll see if I can find it. Until then, here is an older article.

Backpacker Magazine – June 2001

Lightning Survival Update
If you're caught in a lightning storm on the trail, head for the hills.

by: Annette McGivney

When lightning threatens, head for the rolling hills. That's the new recommendation from the folks at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). The updated NOLS guidelines advise wilderness travelers to avoid stands of trees (long thought the best lightning cover) and instead seek gently rolling terrain. The reason: Strikes are random and unusual in low, rolling areas where there are few trees to attract lightning. Sit in the "lightning position" —squatting on a sleeping pad or pack—in a ravine or depression.

If you're stuck among trees during a storm, avoid touching the trunks. The new NOLS guidelines also debunk the old "cone of protection" myth (see "A Hair-Raising Experience," Wild Things, August 2000). The cone theory held that sitting close to, but not right next to, a tall tree was safe because lightning would go for the tree instead of you. The truth is that lightning strikes are more likely in and around tall, lone trees, and that the surrounding ground also becomes electrified.

NOLS revised its "Lightning Safety Guidelines" to reflect findings from its own extensive field research, as well as standards announced at last year's International Conference in Atmospheric Electricity.

If a fellow hiker is struck by lightning, administer CPR immediately. If he has a heartbeat but can't breathe, perform artificial respiration (tilt back his head, hold his nostrils closed, and breathe air into his mouth until you see his chest rise) for at least 30 minutes, the minimum time usually required before normal neurological function returns. Get the victim to a hospital as soon as he is breathing on his own.

 

[Pritch]

Here is a question for our scientifically minded members. (Old Physics?) I understand that lightning is attracted to positively charged objects. Is there any way to make a device that would inhibit you taking a positive charge?

 

[dipbait]

If your hair stands up, dont stop to pose for a picture.

 

[Maqua]

Don't be a cow and make sure to avoid barbed wire fences.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Here is a question for our scientifically minded members. (Old Physics?) I understand that lightning is attracted to positively charged objects. Is there any way to make a device that would inhibit you taking a positive charge?

That's a great idea! The problem is, the device removes your positive charge by taking it on itself, and the lightning that immediately strikes it will melt both the device and you ...

 

[abo4ster]

So the old timers say basswood trees never get struck by lighting, and I can't say that I have ever seen one that had been hit.

Black locust trees are apparently a magnet for lightning as from a percentage standpoint they get hit a lot, but oaks typically get hit the most, at least in the east.

 

[Pritch]

That's a great idea! The problem is, the device removes your positive charge by taking it on itself, and the lightning that immediately strikes it will melt both the device and you ...

D'oh! That's why I asked.

I'll have to ask for volunteers when I have my "Negative Charge Generator" prototype ready for testing!

 

[Esav Benyamin]

 

[Kismet]

Didn't need to see that, Esav. tyvm.


I know it is ego, but can remember being stuck in a thunderstorm on a highway on a motorcycle, POSITIVE that, even though there was lightning hitting all over the area, it was just tormenting ME before striking me to a crisp.

Kinda like Yossarian and the German guns.

 

[OldPhysics]

Don't be the highest point in the vicinity. Don't seek refuge under a high point. Shed any metal objects. If on or in the water, get off/out. Find a ditch or depression but be mindful of flood potential. Squat low. If in a group, spread out. A vehicle makes a good shelter option, but don't touch any metal inside.

Mostly sound ... though shedding metal objects would lead to tossing away your knives, and we can't have that. I would not, however, suggest you decide to hold that nice chopper blade over your head.

Generally speaking, inside a car you're in a Faraday Cage and protected from lower frequencies of E-M radiation. Sadly, lightning can come right through a glass window ... though that doesn't seem to have anything to do with touching metal objects inside the car.

Why do you need to 'squat low?' Even if you aren't struck by lightning, you will be experiencing a strong oscillating electric field anywhere within a pretty goodly distance from a lightning bolt. You need to reduce the potential difference your body experiences due to this field ... and a realistic way to do that is to lay flat or at least 'squat low.' Of course, squatting won't help if you're inhaling water at the same time.

All of these suggestions involve ways to convince the lightning bolt that you are in no way involved with its shortest distance to ground.

In my long-distant youth, I was involved with some lightning-related research in the desert Southwest. I recall being near a ridge as a storm approached, feeling an odd prickling sensation -- it was the hairs on my body standing up as 'static electricity' began to build across my body. Basically, a strong approaching electric field was starting to polarize me. This not a good thing. I threw myself flat and waited out a sudden, rather nasty storm -- complete with a few unpleasant lightning bolts.

Clearly, I survived. And you can, too.:thumbup:

 

[OldPhysics]

Here is a question for our scientifically minded members. (Old Physics?) I understand that lightning is attracted to positively charged objects. Is there any way to make a device that would inhibit you taking a positive charge?

Depends on the composition of the lightning bolt, but yes it certainly can happen.

Inhibit oneself from developing a positive charge? Quite difficult. We are all composed principally of dielectric material shot through with conductive liquids (blood, etc.). We respond nicely to electric fields; one would have to completely screen out these fields, at all applied frequencies, to eliminate polarization and the imposition of charge. That is extremely difficult to do, as the electromagnetic force is extraordinarily powerful at the spatial scale where we all live.

It can be done. I've stood inside an elaborate and carefully built Faraday Cage while all "heck" was going on around me. Noisy, showy, and nerve-wracking. I was quite happy my engineer colleagues were ... competent.

Pretty tough to carry a Faraday Cage around with you. And even then, it's not very useful if it isn't very carefully grounded.

 

[OldPhysics]

There was an up-to-date article in Backpacker Magazine recently. I'll see if I can find it. Until then, here is an older article.

Good Lord, yes!!

"Cone of Protection" my old, gray arse! That makes no sense whatsoever.

The point about CPR is absolutely correct. In fact, in my discipline, we are all constantly certified in CPR.

Those struck by lightning almost always experience lingering affects associated with the neurological and muscular systems. The lucky few who avoid this are those who have experienced lightning strikes that travelled across or through the layers of the skin. And they usually experience severe burns.

I understand memory loss sometimes also happens.

All things considered, let's avoid all contact with lightning.

 

[Pritch]

OP, thanks for responding. I thought this might be right in your wheelhouse. Regarding the "squat low" comment, I was parroting advice I recently heard in a Boy Scouts Weather presentation. I do not recall the exact reasoning but I believe it was a matter of getting lower than surrounding objects. I found at least one source online that suggests that the "lightning squat" is no longer taught.

 

[mete]

Yes there is both positive and negative lightning !
Carry a Faraday cage with you !
Mother nature does what she wants to do !! However there are some generalities. Stay away from high places and conducting things like trees. Note that in Esav's photo ,in the lower left part of the photo, there is a pole of some kind and a small lightning branch hitting it ! The many photos of the Empire State building show a similar thing .While strong bolts hit the highest things like the tower on the Empire State ,weaker bolts go past and strike lower buildings.
And then there's ball lightning , a fascinating thing indeed.I watched a film of a laboratory produced ball lightning that gradually oozed through a ceramic tile ! A fellow HAM described lightning hitting his tree and turning into ball lightning, This went three blocks along chain link fences then punched a hole through a house and disintegrated.

 

[OldPhysics]

You're welcome.

A pleasant opportunity to share without, I hope, coming across like a pedant.

Waaay back in the late 80's, the DoD investigated lightning as a weapon. They called them 'charged particle beam weapons' (there were also neutral particle beam weapons). You will be unsurprised to hear that they proved unwieldy and, at least with our present understanding, more dangerous to the wielder than the target.

But, it will come around again. Count on it.