Skills:Lightning & Storm Safety and Weather Prediction

Elen said:
I don't know what it was. :D Except that over here, we'd call it "pallosalama", or "ball lightning", although who knows what it is technically. I just got the distinct feeling it wasn't very friendly. :D
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"Ball Lightning" is another term for it. It has ball, and makes you feel like yours just shriveled up and went away...:eek: :eek:
 
I remember reading several years ago that if you get caught out in the open with no cover that besides making yourself as small as possible and minimizing your contact patch with the ground that you should remove all of the metal from your person and place it a safe distance away. Now obviously you can't remove all metal like zippers and such but it seems to make sense. Anybody else heard this and can confirm or refute this information?
 
James 61 said:
I remember reading several years ago that if you get caught out in the open with no cover that besides making yourself as small as possible and minimizing your contact patch with the ground that you should remove all of the metal from your person and place it a safe distance away. Now obviously you can't remove all metal like zippers and such but it seems to make sense. Anybody else heard this and can confirm or refute this information?
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James, that is correct, 100%. Any metal, or mineral that conducts electricity is potentially hazardous.

Another item: Water is actually not much of a conductor, it's the minerals and metals in the water that conduct. There are stories of people jumping out of pools, running across the pavement leaving wet footprints, and lightning hitting, and jumping from print to print - chasing the person!
 
Years ago when I was a teenager one of my brothers and I were shooting arrows in a field near my parents' house when a storm started coming in. We kept at our shooting even though we heard thunder because it was not raining. We figured that if it was not raining, then the lightening was not close enough yet.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightening struck a tree about ten yards away. The flash and the boom were simultaneous. I nearly jumped out of my skin. We left right away and looked at the tree later. It had a white scar from the top to the bottom. It must have been a small bolt of lightening because we were so close and not affected by the hit as badly as others have described here.

Even though it was a small bolt, the noise and the sheer force was terrific.

As you might guess, after that we never stayed outdoors when the thunder started moving in, rain or no rain.

Scout
 
Here's a pic I took recently of a lightning-struck apple tree. Probably struck decades ago, still alive. Interesting how resilient life can, in fact, be...

PICT0026.jpg
 
I took this picture last fall. Guess what did that to the stone. The stone's been that way a long time, but there's little doubt that it was lightning that did it. Imagine if that had struck a human. :eek:

zapqs5.jpg
 
About 10 years ago I was on a cross state bicycle ride in Missouri, something similar to RAGBRAI. We spent a night in Sedalia, MO at the fairgrounds. That morning when I got up it was very nasty looking and there was lots of thunder going on. Several people had already packed up and were under a big shelter not far away, talking and laughing. I had most of my stuff packed and was getting ready to take the tent down when it started to rain a bit, so I thought I'd wait and see if it blew over rather than pack up a wet tent. I was sitting inside the tent when suddenly there was a huge popping sound and then complete silence. That was followed by lots of expletives from the people that were camped next to me, as well as the crowd under the shelter becoming quite noisy. I crawled out of the tent to find a small tree halfway between my tent and theirs had been struck by lightning and the bark was peeled completely off of the tree. They had decided to beat the storm and were in the process of taking their tent down at the time. Two of them had singed hair on their legs and arms, but that was the extent of any damage. The tree was 10-15 ft from my tent and probably a few feet closer to their's.

What I found really interesting is that there was a line of small trees in the camping area and most of them had one or more bicycles leaning up against them. The tree that was hit didn't have one touching it.
 
So, the other part of this whole equation is weather prediction. If you have no instruments, what kind of visual, auditory, pressure, smell, and other cues can clue you in to what the future weather is?
 
I remember my father told a story of St. Elmo's Fire when he worked for the gas company; lightning hit and rolled into the substation where my dad and a coworker were and proceeded along the grounding strap that circumnavigated the room. The two men remained in the middle of the room while the ball fried every piece of equipment on its circuit. The lightning reached back to the door and went to ground.

In the house, during a storm:
no showers
no baths
no washing dishes
no talking on landlines

Copper, water pipes and water conduct from miles away.

In the car:
Don't touch anything metal that isn't insulated from other metal.

Outside is mostly covered:
Single or small group of tree(s), bad.
Many trees, better.
Be careful of radiating lightning once it hits the ground.
Be careful of the exploding tree.
Lightning arcs, so don't stay close to the trunk, especially of the tallest tree.
Crouching, yep.
Stay clear of the metal posts of any shelter you're in - the middle is better.

Water:
Bad. Period.

hadn't really gotten into caves, but I can definitely see how water and minerals can make for a bad hair day.

I was just talking about this very topic with my 5 year old on Monday that started with why does my hair stand on end (static and youtube vids of Van de Graaf generators) and ended with an Air Force PowerPoint on Lightning Safety (I'm getting her ready for camping this year).

Lightning rods, don't be one.
 
Brian Jones said:
So, the other part of this whole equation is weather prediction. If you have no instruments, what kind of visual, auditory, pressure, smell, and other cues can clue you in to what the future weather is?
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Mine is fairly easy - I tend to get migraines when the barometer drops.

I have predicated when it would start raining to within a half hour. When the rain started, the migraine lifted. It doesn't happen all the time though (thank goodness).

Weather & natural phenomena I've experienced pre storm:
A sudden breeze picks up.
Vision changes - I believe I see features more sharply.
The smell - not ozone, but moisture.
At night, while camping in NY, some friends thought of sleeping under the stars (it was quite spectacular). I watched the stars fade and disappear. "Uh, guys, keep your rainflys up." Yup, it rained.
Birds fly lower before a storm.
Some trees (sugar maple, IIRC?) leaves will turn upward, revealing the underside.

I'm a long way from being able to read clouds. When I was practicing, I got to be passable, but it's been a while.
 
Brian Jones said:
So, the other part of this whole equation is weather prediction. If you have no instruments, what kind of visual, auditory, pressure, smell, and other cues can clue you in to what the future weather is?
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I've spent a lot of time chasing storms and believe it or not, I get paid to do it. But other than the usual indicators, the one thing that really gets my attention is when the sky goes green. I don't know how it is in other parts of the country, but around here, especially in the spring time, the sky will darken and take on a green hue. That's a guarantee that bad weather is coming it's just a matter of when and how bad. Hail is common under these conditions and tornadoes are a high risk.

Thanks for all the posts. I've been reminded of several good points and picked up a couple of new ones. This is a good time of the year for all of us to brush up on lightning procedures. Thanks for getting the ball rolling.
 
Brian Jones said:
So, the other part of this whole equation is weather prediction. If you have no instruments, what kind of visual, auditory, pressure, smell, and other cues can clue you in to what the future weather is?
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This is a substantial question, and the subject of thousands of words!

Basically, your simplest bet is to watch and learn the clouds, which tend to be fairly accurate indicators of the impending weather and air stability. They're generally quite consistent, but accurate only to about 15 minutes into the near future.

Clouds also mark the relative wind speeds at altitude, and also mark the oncoming or departing edges of cold fronts.

The vertical stacking of cumulus clouds can also indicate the speed of transevaporation: small puffy cumulus clouds usually mean fair weather for the next several hours; complex, tall vertical cumulus clouds indicate a buildup of humidity and eventually rain.

In addition to clouds, you need to understand the prevailing winds for your area. At my latitude, they trend West to East. If the winds are blowing from any other direction, there's a change in the weather coming due to low pressure.

There's waaaay too much to write on this within the construct of a forum.

As you're adopting the socratic method, ask some questions on meteorology. :) I'll see what I can answer.
 
Brian Jones said:
So, tell me about meteorology!
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Meteorology is a critical but woefully ignored survival study.

Despite its stunning complexity and seeming inconsistency, meterology functions on only a few simple factors:

- Temperature (heat)
- Air pressure (wind)
- Humidity (the amount of water)
- Time of day

Everything else is details.

Students of meteorology should begin by understanding the water cycle, which drives most weather. There are many ways to summarize it, but it could easily follow this model:

- The sun beats down on water
- The water heats up
- Slowly, water molecules escape the surface tension of the water and float off as water vapor
- Heat rises, taking the water vapor upward
- As air rises, it loses energy; this energy loss appears as cooling
- As it cools, the water vapor begins to slow its own velocity
- This allows water molecules to catch up to each other and form bigger drops
- Past a certain altitude, the water droplets form clouds
- Pressure changes cause wind
- Wind pushes the clouds over land
- The clouds can dissipate over time, or they condense to form thicker clouds (especially if winds blow cold air from other latitudes)
- Clouds grow thick until the drops get too heavy to remain buoyant
- Rain or snow occurs, based on overall temperature near the ground
- Rain water or metling snow runs toward rivers and back to open water
- Process repeats

That's an example of all the factors at work in familiar ways.
 
Here's photographic evidence that the metal of a car conducts lightning downward rather than the rubber tires. Look at the front wheel:

carhitbylightning500.jpeg


St. elmo's fire/ball lightning:

ball_lightning.jpg


We have lots more to cover on lightning, and on weather prediction! Thanks for all the input - I think we are developing a lot of good info, and interesting stories and examples to boot!
 
Some excellent stories and advice here. Glad to see that people are broadening their horizons to include things that are so big, we often times take them for granted. Cloud watching, and sky watching in general can provide some pretty reliable clues as to what to expect in the way of weather. (As was pointed out)
Even very basic things like telling the difference between cummulus, nimbus, stratus, and cirrus clouds(and their respective combinations and subtypes) can provide a wealth of information.
I also like the mnemonics that have been passed down from generation to generation, if for no other reason than they are easy to remember and therefore reach a wider audience. "Red sky in the morning; sailor take warning. Red sky at night; sailor's delight." is one that springs to mind.
Low barometric pressures will also affect something most of us are intimately familiar with; the smoke from a campfire.
Most good pyromaniacs know that rain puts a damper on the festive bonfire, and that smoke that sinks rather than rises, usually indicates that.
Like Watchful said, there are so many subtleties and nuances that we can't possibly cover them all, but I'm enjoying reading this one at any rate.
Great stuff guys, keep it up :thumbup:


Gautier
 
Okay, when we cover more on the lightning and weather prediction, let's also get into other types of weather prediction/protection. Texas Slim mentioned tornadoes, and hurricanes are another high-wind killer. Soon, let's get into "primitive" protection and observation skills for high-winds, then we can move into winter weather stuff!
 
It has been my experience that, along with a lot of other stuff that has been said, you can really tell when a storm is coming by the difference in how sound carries. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but sounds carry differently when a storm is on the way.
 
rocketbomb said:
It has been my experience that, along with a lot of other stuff that has been said, you can really tell when a storm is coming by the difference in how sound carries. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but sounds carry differently when a storm is on the way.
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True. What you're experiencing (before, during, and after a storm) typically happens when there's a lot of moisture in the air.

Sound travels better through solid objects than air. Put enough moisture in the air, and you're putting enough tiny solid objects that the sound attenuates less: you actually hear better because more sound reaches your ears due to the moisture carrying it.

However, the tiny ocean of droplets around you also ping pongs the sounds waves and increases distortion. So while you hear more sound, it's harder to for your ears to localize it.

After a storm, go out and listen for overhead air traffic. You can hear planes overhead that would be silent on clear days...but notice how long it takes you to pinpoint the location it's coming from.

The sound is louder, but hollower.

Edit: also happens in heavy snowfall, too.
 
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