Lightning Redux
The latest research about lightning seems to indicate that some of the advice we’ve been given about staying safe during lightning storms while in the outdoors has been wrong.
I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that.
Lightning can strike at a distance, up to 30 miles away from where there is an obvious storm. At the Charles Sommers Boy Scout Canoe Base at the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, they tell the story of “Fried Fred,” a guide who was “poop-decking,” i.e. sitting on the back deck of the canoe and trailing his feet in the water, enjoying the sunshine and general outdoors nature, when he was hit and killed by a lightning strike from a distant storm. So if you can hear thunder, keep your feet inside your boat.
The advice about standing on an insulated pad and crouch down if you are caught out in the open?
After reviewing hundreds of lightning strikes, that has been discounted.
The new advice is: RUN LIKE HELL TO FIND A GROVE OF TREES. NOT just ONE tree, either, but a grove of trees. Hereafter this shall be known as the “RLH PROTOCOL” If you are in your boat, this translates to “GET OFF THE WATER.”
I know. In many cases this is impossible, but try. I remember paddling around Pelican Island once, where we were practically a mile from shore in any direction and a storm blew up. I crouched down in my boat (easier to do in a “sit-inside”) and paddled while almost laying down.
Evidently, if you are on an insulated pad and it is raining, the rain still provides a conductive path through you to the ground.
Get away from an area that is not sheltered by many trees.
Don’t lie down on the ground either, as lightning can spread through the ground.
And don’t bunch up. Every year, we hear reports of herds of cows that take shelter under a grove of trees that get killed or injured when lightning strikes a tree, and then jumps from cow to cow on it’s way to the ground.
If you hear thunder, it is a good time to get to shore and find a grove of trees. Many of the lightning incidents they reviewed indicated that lightning struck at the front of the storm, or the ending.
One lady was struck by lightning while hiking while 30 miles away from the storm, across a valley.
Also, STAY AWAY FROM CAVES during a storm. Recently a group of hikers on their way up Half Dome in Yosemite took shelter in a cave on Half Dome. Lightning struck and went through the cave and the hikers, leaving them with singed hair, injuries, and memory loss.
As with many of the dangers we face while paddling our boats, much of the danger could be avoided by watching the weather and deciding to postpone or cancel the event if the weather looks like it might become dangerous.
Then again, once my family and I went out on a sunny Sunday afternoon when no storms or rain were forecast, and a tornado went through. You do your best, and keep a weather eye out when you are on the water!
Be safe out there!
Harmon Everett
References:
https://sfist.com/2023/09/26/hikers-struck-by-lightning-on-yosemites-half-dome-but-live-to-tell-of-harrowing-encounter/