Yes, it’s a really bad idea…
– Last Updated: Jun-28-14 8:11 PM EST –
...and terrible advice. You should stay away from trees and if you're stuck in the open, try to find a depression to lie down in. If nothing like that is available, crouch on a non-conductive material (like your PFD). Avoid rock overhangs, but if there is a deep cave available, that provides good shelter, especially if it's dry.
If you're in a group and no shelter is available, spread out over a fairly wide area to minimize the chance of more than one person being struck. Huddling together could result in the entire group being hit and no one left to render assistance.
If you're on the water and the winds aren't severe, separating is a reasonable idea for the same reasons as above. If the wind is high and the water is rough (a more likely situation), you may be forced to raft up for stability, as the risk of capsize/boat loss/drowning is much greater than the risk of a lightning strike.
What about a forest?
– Last Updated: Jun-29-14 11:44 AM EST –
I think what the earlier poster was talking about when he suggested "losing yourself among the trees" was NOT bad advice at all. The idea is to avoid putting yourself in a location where you or something nearby is an obvious target. Even if I had the magical power to *know* that a tree in those woods was going to get struck during this particular storm, the lightning has hundreds of thousands of trees to choose from, and for the lighting to strike close by would be the result of bad luck rather than being in a risky location. I'd feel much less like a target in the forest than I would if I stayed out on the water and was the tallest thing around.
And by the way, the land alongside a lake or river is naturally the lowest land available, and in lots of cases there will be much higher ground right nearby. I think as long as you avoided taller-than-normal trees in the forest on shore, you'd be doing as much as you could to reduce your risk.
I love these posts.
So many facts. So much fiction. Experts all.
Will you consider a lightning rod for
your boathouse?
I live in a forest . . .
where there are several lightning-struck trees from the last 10 years of storms. All of these trees are fairly far up hillsides – by no means all at the top but pretty far up the sides. No lightning-struck trees exist in the lowest part of the land along small streams. That’s a helpful observation if you are on land – or near land, if on the water.
The advice we’re given here in NC if you’re on the water, is paddle to land and hang out in low trees till the storm has passed. Absent buildings or cars for shelter, that seems OK advice.
We spend an awful lot of time in parking lots at our local lake listening to thunder, staring at the clouds, and saying “is it coming here, is it coming here?” Summer in the South!
approach speed
Look in NOAA weather for Miami radar at 7-8PM EST. We’re getting the 7PM Special every day. Cooler wind comes down the sand ridge Florida center from Daytona to Lake Placid. Cool wind hits the hot plains below Lake Oke, developing thunderstorms, NOT columnars, stream outward south/east/and west over us at Fort Myers Beach.
At 30 miles away, 10 miles away, perception is…of no movement toward us. No problem.
At 5 miles away low clouds are seen moving AT US ! at 30 mph.
LEAVE EARLY.
The 30 mile away view is most interesting here. We see the penumbra or squall line in full perspective horizon to horizon in itself a serious warning if not immediately threatening.
http://goo.gl/ln2sNx