Thunderstorms in the wilderness – What to do

I was referring to on toes crouching, the lightning position as it is taught

From NOAA website

The Lightning Desperation Position

SQUAT DOWN! KEEP YOUR FEET TOGETHER! – KEEP OTHER PARTS OF YOUR BODY OFF THE GROUND! – CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COVER YOUR EARS!

If you are caught in the open and lightning is nearby, the safest position to be in is crouched down on the balls of your feet (see Figure 1 below). Keep your hands over your ears and do not allow other parts of your body to touch the ground. Keep your feet as close to one another as possible. Why is it important to crouch down on the balls of your feet? The reason why is that when lightning strikes an object, the electricity of the lightning discharge does not necessarily go straight down into the ground (Figure 2). Quite often the electricity will travel along the surface of the ground for quite a large distance. The electrical current likely varies widely from place to place, even over a small area. This phenomana is know as a "side flash". Many people who are "struck" by lightning are not hit directly by the main lightning channel, but are affected by electrical current of the side flash as it travels along the surface of the ground. By keeping the surface area of your body relative to the ground to a minimum (that is, keep your feet together and do not allow any other part of your body to contact the ground, you can reduce the threat of the electricity traveling across the ground from crossing your body and injuring you.

A more technical description of this phenomana is called ground potential. If a flash occurs nearby and your feet are seperated AND the electrical current is different between your two feet, then the electrical current will try to equalize across your feet. What this mean is the electric current will travel through your body to equalize between your two feet (it will do this by traveling up one leg, across your lower abdomenen, and then down the other leg). The greater your feet are from eachother the greater the ground potential could be (even a few extra inches can make a big difference). If your feet are together, then the ground potential between your two feet will likely be less, and the current will likely not travel as much through your body. This safety measure only helps for a lightning flash that strikes nearby, and not a flash that directly hits you – IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT IF YOU ARE IN THIS POSITION AND THE LIGHTNING STRIKES YOU DIRECTLY, THEN THERE IS A HIGH PROBABILITY THAT YOU WILL BE SERIOUSLY INJURED OR KILLED. It is good to know, however, that there has never been a documented case of somebody being injured or killed while in the lightning desperation postion.

I like the site specific advice for avoiding the thunderstorms.

I got caught in the middle of a lightning storm once, with thunder so close and loud it made my ears peep. In less than five minutes it literally went from the best weather I had ever seen on that mountain, to the worst rain and thunderstorm.

Anyway, I try to remember the 30/30 rule (like most rules more a guideline).

30/30 rule:
When lighting and thunder are within 30 seconds of each other you are in the danger zone of being struck (lighting often strikes more than 10/15km outside the actual storm clouds).
Seek shelter immediately, and stay in shelter for 30 minutes after the thunder has stopped.
Also realise that sometimes the lightning is obstructed from your view. So safer is to seek shelter when hearing thunder period.

What's the story behind the NOAA cow picture?

It looks like they all got blown into the fence and died from getting stuck? I'm not sure but curious.

Step-leaders radiating out from a strike can follow a fence.

From the fence laterals can jump quite a distance.

I'd guess the cows were eating grass on the other side of the fence when it took a hit.

The best thing to do is keep your eye to the sky. It is rare that you will go from blue bird sky on one side of the pass to a lightning storm on the other. If you watch the clouds you pretty much know what you can expect with your day. Well, at least rare in CA.

Lowering, thickening, darkening is a quick easy way to know what to expect.

Also, if in a forested area be observant of signs of strikes. While on the CT we noticed that there were some areas where a grove of trees would show signs of a significant number of lightning strikes.

I have no idea why those areas had such a concentration of strikes, but we didn't hang around to find out.

Not only do lightning strikes happen as has been discussed, but also the resultant damage from the strikes will vary according to the electrical conductivity of the soil. Basically, if the soil is highly conductive, then the strike hitting the tree will be dissipated quickly in the nearby soil. If the soil is not very conductive, then the strike will "rattle around" a bit, perhaps hitting trees or persons, before it is finally dissipated. During a storm, the top surface of soil tends to be wet from the rain, so that makes a better conduction path. The strike on a tree may be radiating outward in all conductive directions along the ground surface, so you really don't want to be standing underneath the tree or even be standing near it. Even standing fifty yards away, you might feel a jingle.

–B.G.–

Another important point – if you are hiking with others and are caught in the open, be sure and scatter. Worst case is that a close strike takes out the entire group and no one is conscious to render first aid. There are incidents with Scouts or other groups where numerous people huddled together were all killed or injured. Boy Scout guidelines include: "• Spread your group out 100 feet from each other if possible."

And of course, be prepared to perform CPR.