Living, playing and working in the rocky mountains often leads us to the high places and remote locations that make the wilderness so great. If you have been to any of these places in the summer than you are familiar with the lightening storms that often develop in the late afternoons. From Montana to Utah the three o clock thunder boomers are a common site. There aren't too many things that are cooler to watch than a mountain thunderstorm, but its important to find someplace safe to watch them from.
The following is taken from the NOAA lightening awareness program.
In order to avoid becoming the victim of a lightning related injury, it helps to have a better picture of how
lightning works. First, let’s look at the anatomy of a strike. In a thunderstorm, ice and dust particles
are circulated through the atmosphere by high-speed winds. The turbulent air currents within the cloud cause
collisions between the particles. These collisions generate static electricity. As electrical charge builds up
on the dust and ice within a cloud, the positively charged particles gather towards the top, and negatively charged
particles move to the bottom.
As a result of the building negative charge in the bottom of the cloud, a pool of positively charged particles
gathers in the earth below. The positive charges in the ground concentrate in taller objects such as trees,
telephone poles, and hills: wherever they are closest to the cloud. The difference in charge between the cloud and
the ground continues to increase, until a lightning channel forms between the two. As electricity is transferred
through the channel, the surrounding air is quickly heated to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Rapid heating and cooling
cause the air to expand, then contract. This produces a shockwave, which is then heard as thunder.
Pretty cool stuff but what do I do if there is a storm and I'm on a ridge line or exposed area? The trick is to not be a conductor! In the information above we found out that the positive charge from the ground gathers in the tallest object around.....the lightening wants to equalize the charge and doesn't want to go far to do it. Are you the tallest object? If you are, find somewhere your not. The ideal location is a stand of timber of equal height. This decreases the chances that you will be hit.
A few other things to consider. Caves and rock outcroppings can actually work as a conduit for lightening. If you are standing under an exposed rock outcrop and the ground is hit above you the lightening may arc through your body to get to the ground below you. This = not fun! Look for stands of timber below tree line and you most likely will be out of harms way.
If you are caught out in the open, search for a depression or low spot that you can sit in the lightening safety position. Its nothing fancy basically your crouching in a low spot. If you have a sleeping pad or sleeping bag or really anything to sit on as an insulator crouch on top of it and wait out the storm. If you are in a large group of people, make sure you spread out to decrease your chances of everyone getting hit.
In the end the best trick to avoid a lightening strike is simply keeping an eye on the weather. Hear thunder? Its time to get off the ridge.
Stick around for more. See you UNDER WESTERN SKIES!
