Mostly true
except for the random factor. Lightning strikes where the charge differential forms. Frequently the node is a high object. I work on the prairie in an area second only to Florida for lightning strikes in the U.S. We have wind turbines and meterological towers sticking up everywhere to the height of 80 meters. Sometimes the lightning will pick out a street light pole or even the side of a hill, starting a grass fire. Under a rock overhang would be a pretty good shelter. I would rather take my chances off the water in any situation.
So if lightning stuck . . .
. . . the water nearby while you were paddling would you get a jolt (not the drink)?
No ledges!
We’ve always been advised in mountaineering safety that undercut ledges are NOT a safe place to be in electrical storms as currents from nearby strikes will tend to travel into those areas through the ground. There have been a number of accidents, and, I believe, fatalities, reported over the years in the Alpine Club’s annual accident reports due to that phenomenon. I was taught that when you are caught out on an exposed slope during an electrical storm, you should crouch with head down on top of a backpack, foam pad, dry wood or other insulating material.
Speaking of electrocution, I recently researched marine electrocutions as a weekly safety report where I work. Kayakers and canoeists should also be aware that the waters around marinas can be dangerous. Faulty grounding and amateur electrical connections on docked boats have resulted in people being electrocuted by touching craft or structures or even simply due to currents flowing in the water. I’ve become much more cautious about navigating around marinas since reading the data and seeing photos of the horrible wiring at such places.
NOAA and the weather channel are
somewhat exaggerating the risks of one getting struck by lightning. If we followed their recommendations, outside recreation as we know it would be almost over.
If caught out on the ocean, a lake, or a river during a storm that includes lightning, evaluate your OVERALL situation, including risks from wind and waves. For a group, it might make sense to spread out so that if one is struck by lightning, the others are OK and can assist.
But the fact is, very few paddlers are struck by lightning while on the water. You aren’t a likely target, just a possible one. Be cool, make sure you don’t run into other trouble while running away from lightning.
Seems possible
more data on avoiding ledges and caves
Here is the Lighting Institute’s information on safety with the warning about rock outcrops:
http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/ploutdoor.htm
It’s true that golfers are statisically at greater risk than wilderness outdoor recreationalists of being struck by lightning.
Excellent information.
Now, when on a trail in our mountains, do I stay away from under ledges and get bopped on the head from baseball size hail? So many ways to die, so many trails to walk and waters to navigate. Its OK to die happy doing something you love.
Can’t visit that site, WARNING
the secruity software says that it attaches to something called sirlinksalot and can breach security features.
Ledges and caves are rarely options.
Golfers tend to go for the little wooden shelters on high ground, so their argyle socks don’t get soaked.
I used to go over to the golf course as a thunderstorm was receding, and wade in the pools on the fairways to find golf balls I could sell. Never got struck. None of the other kids did either.
g2d makes a good point
Just this winter, I realized an alarming trend amongst weather forecasters. “It’s too hot, too cold, too humid, too dry, too sunny or too cloudy to go outside today. Better to stay indoors and stay tuned to Channel X” Weather forecasters have becomed the dupes of the advertisers.
Sorry, it’s off the original topic, but I had to vent (it is pouring down rain here).
Hadn’t thought of the ad issue. On one
broadcast, they claimed about 100 lightning deaths the previous year, and then on another, they said about 50. How many viewers die from thrombosis caused by sitting in front of the tube for hours?
Willowleaf, I think we need to see some
specifics as to why lightning current would tend to travel to undercut ledges. What would the strike location be? What would cause selective current travel to the area of the ledge?
There are other reasons, including avoiding hypothermia, why one might choose not to crouch in the open. I bring up again the two deaths and one near death when three women in separate locations panicked because of many nearby lightning strikes. They gathered some gear and tried to make it to base camp. Two died of hypothermia before they reached their goal. If they had stayed in their tents (under the aluminum poles), they would have lived. The tents were never struck.
ground current
willowleaf is right, caves and undercut ledges are places to avoid in lightning storms. The reason being that lightning strikes generate significant ground current - the lighting strike doesn’t stop once it hits the ground, it travels (often quite far) to balance the positive/negative charge differential between the underside of the cloud and the surface of the earth. Caves and overhangs tend to collect these ground currents mostly because they have more exposed surface area - i.e. if you’re huddled into a cave, you have a large amount of your body’s surface area in direct contact with rock. If it’s a big overhang, and you’re standing or crouching underneath it, it’s not really a problem (unless a rock falls on your head); the key is minimizing surface area contact. I say all of this as a non-expert - but this is my understanding of multiple conversations on the matter.
I’ve had more experience dealing with lightning on mountains than on the water (though I did once watch a lightning strike hit the water about a mile away, while I was wading back to shore from a sail mooring, and felt the electric current zip through me - tingly).
On a lake or wide river, I’d get off. 1-you want to avoid the semblance of a node, and 2-you don’t want to be out on open water if the storm gets worse. I’d get off the beach, try to stay away from any big trees, and minimize surface area (don’t lean against a tree or lie down). Shoes should be the only things in contact with the ground.
On a smaller stream, I’d worry a lot less about lightning - you’re just not in a position to draw undo attention to yourself. But I’d probably still get off, and follow the above - it’s still friggin’ raining.
My 2 cents
I’ve paddled rivers in 39 states, and
I can count on one hand the rivers where huddling under an overhang or in a cave would have even been an option. And, speaking as one who failed quantum physics at MIT, I’m not overwhelmed by the reasoning presented for overhangs and caves being uniquely dangerous.
I think the danger of caves and overhangs would apply mainly when the land around is elevated, so that it is more likely to get struck. The overhangs I’ve visited, along rivers, are lower than surrounding bluffs and trees, and it is real hard to see why lightning current would magically concentrate on such overhangs.
I think we’re worrying about overhangs on elevated mountain terrain, when in fact any overhang a river rat might use is not much above river level. Apples and oranges.
I’ve had friends who were zapped while kneeling on rocks on the Chattooga River. What should they have done? Maybe there is no right answer. It was an electrical storm, and they were out in it.
If caves and overhangs are so conductive, why are they not equivalent to Faraday cages? When fininshed, close your exam booklet and turn it in.
Lightning!
Deciding on whether to stay on the water or get out on land is dependent on the surrounding terrain and what type of lightning you are experiencing. The general rule of thumb is that open flat stretches of water are bad places to be in any lightning storm Small rivers and creeks with lots of obstacles, in canyons,and or having trees along their banks tend to be less of a threat than open water. Lone trees, mouths of caves, high points or being near metal structures are high risk areas. There are three types of lightning. They are “bolt lightning”, “chain lightning”, and “ball lightning”. Bolt lightning poses the most threat to individuals on the water or land. It is a discharge going from clouds to the earth surface. “Chain lightning” is only a threat to pilots flying through a storm since discharges are moving from cloud to cloud within the storm. “Ball Lightning”, while extremely dangerous, is also extremely rare requiring a huge discharge which litterly bounces across the earths surface discharging its power as it moves.
Factors like clothing and equipment also play a role in your chances of being struck by lightning. A paddler in a neoprene wetsuit, booties, and gloves in a kevlar kayak using a carbon fiber paddle is much less at risk than a canoelst in an aluminum canoe wearing shorts, a tee shirt, Gore tex parka, rain pants, sandals, and no gloves.
I have paddled on the Upper Missouri in Montana in a huge sheet lightning storm in my fiberglass and cedar canoe wearing neoprene boots and gloves and a carbon fiber paddle without much worry because it was chain lightning. I have also been climbing on a peak in the North Cascades and have had to drop my ice axe and rack and run off the top of a ridge to avoid bolt lightning strikes. There is nothing like the smell of Ozone in the air and the hair on your body standing on end to make you aware that the place you are in is not the place to be!!!
Use your best judgement when storms approach. Factor in the + and - and go with your gut feeling!
Happy Paddling!
What does ozone smell like?
Good info. about lightning/water
http://www.nasdonline.org/docs/d000001-d000100/d000007/d000007.html
Murph, everything you say makes sense
but we have little or no data on what difference it makes. I would say that following your guidelines will increase safety, but I have no idea to what extent.
It appears that a lot of the urgent watchwords we get about lightning may be related to the uncertainty about what makes a difference, and how much of a difference it makes.
I sure don’t want to be paddling or hiking amongst bolt lightning, but it doesn’t appear to me that a lot of outdoors types are dying because of it.
Lightning in ovehangs
– Last Updated: Aug-29-09 12:20 PM EST –
I have both read and heard first-hand personal accounts from mountaineers (including a friend) of alarming encounters with currents from lightning discharges on rocky slopes and ledges, including St. Elmo's Fire type reactions by metal equipment and literally hair-raising static charge effects on scalp and skin. I'm also an electrician and have seen enough of the effects of lightning strikes at high-voltage substations (which must be built to both attract and withstand such strikes) to have developed a healthy respect for the phenomenon.
Do I let electrical storms or any other meteorological event inhibit my outdoor recreation or cause me to obsess about low-probability accidents? Not at all -- but I try to do my best to stay aware of the safest quick shelter options and decrease the "slim" statistic closer to zero. Even with my electrical background and a degree in sedimentary Geology I could not readily "explain" to you the physics of ground transmission and ledge refraction of lightning discharge BUT it is not necessary to completely understand the "why" mechanisms behind a natural phenomenon to know "how" it behaves and respect its power. As any wise married person should know. :-)
Well, what I’m saying is that
mountain ledges are not river ledges. I think one might not be in as much danger if using low lying overhangs. Other problems in storms can drive one into overhangs, such as multiple tree blowdowns. There are times one might be grateful for an overhang, though as I’ve said, I don’t often see handy overhangs on America’s rivers.
Wow, lot’s like I created a storm
Lot’s of info, none that definitely confirms on or off the water. I’m going with off the water because I usually am in an open canoe with a 9ft double blade aluminum paddle. That makes me the most likely target off the shore. I guess it is possible for lightning to strike the water and run up my paddle and electrocute me. Dying would be a bitch, but if I’ve got to go, let it be on a river!