camping in thunderstorms

[Kicker]

Thanks everyone for all your info about camping in thunderstorms. It sounds like some of you have had some real weather related adventures while out camping!

[Engineer Guy]

Some neat National Geo Footage of Lightning Strikes in slo mo...

Lightning Strikes Video

[Aaron Coffee]

I have camped in 2 thurnderstorms with 40-60mph winds, with my teardrop, the first one I stood outside with a garbage bag for a raincoat(holes cut for head and arms)the second one I sat in my pickup and watched my trailer rock back and forth, just waited for it to tumble away but it didn't.
Took my nephew and 2 nieces camping this summer, my nephew asked me what we do in case of a storm(he has anxiety issues). I told him if a storm comes up they will tell us to take cover, and the showerhouse/bathrooms are a storm shelter, his response was what about the girls, they can't come in the boys bathroom, I told him that if need be I would step in and announce girls coming in, nobody would have a problem with it, told the camp host that and they absolutely agreed that a situation like that nobody would expect a family to separate.

[jeff0520]

We didn't have lightening on our last trip, but the storm front did have a downburst that was somewhere between 60 and 70 mph. Flattened all the tents, tore down the canopys, and blew a big, well developed campfire out like a candle It was pretty intense.

[rowerwet]

we had a big thunder storm wake us up on our recent trip, I was lying there thinking "the plywood walls even if wet wont be too much protection from a lightning strike, but then houses are mostly wood and they take the brunt of any lightning strikes, maybe the wiring running through the roof of my td will protect us, either way I won't say anything to my wife". she promptly said " the wood won't protect us from lightning will it?". I got out and pulled the awning over the td so it would keep the rain from hitting the roof so loudly, and figured the metal in it would direct the charge to the ground. maybe we should have gone into the van, but we made it.
touching the INSIDE of a metal object being struck is ok, the operator of the electricity exhibit at the Boston Museum of science goes into a giant metal bird cage and raises it to be struck on purpose by the worlds largest air insulated vandegraph generator, they touch the inside of the cage at the exact spot it is being struck with no harm, at least twice a day. one finger outside the cage and they wouldn't be so well off. I have a great shot of a car tire being light up like a light bulb by the same machine, no protection there!
we had an aircraft get struck by lightning at an airport in florida, the storm was over 10 miles away so no warning was given. the ramp rat in the bag hold was blinded for a few months, the crew member in the aft stair well (727) was deafened, and the fueler holding the deadman switch attached to the fuel truck ended up with heart damage after the switch was blown from his hand.
play it safe, get inside a metal structure! aluminum skin will protect you, better if it is grounded to the frame and the frame to the ground, even a grid of metal wires inside the skin will protect you. composite aircraft add a layer of metal mesh to the composite to protect them from lightning strikes in the air (very common and not deadly)

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Getting struck by lighting should be one of the last things you worry about. How many times have you been struck while riding in your car?

Worry about: (in this order)
1. Falling branches/limbs
2. High winds versus your canopy and chairs (or other peoples items hurdling towards you)
3. Possibility of flooding
4. Running out of tasty bevarages
5. Attacks from pesky Velociraptors
6. Lighting strikes

[NathanL]

I have been within a few feet of a lightning striek 3 times. The biggest thing I see beyond the obvious getting struck and dying right there is the amount of debris that comes out of a tree when struck.

The first time it struck a tree at the corner of my house and the strike jumped to the flood light and then thru the house. I was standing about 2 feet away when it happened. Bark from the tree embedded into the facia of my house up to 15 feet away which pretty much means it would have gone right thru a person.

The second time while working for the US Forest Service I was out in the field and a storm camp up and I got down and sat next to a creek bank and a tree about 10 feet away got struck. The bark from that tree went out at least 40 feet in every direction and I found several chunks stuck into trees near by as well.

The third time it struck a tree at another corner of my house and jumped on the service entrance/phone/cable coming into the house and ran thru the attic the entire length of the house. It blew out the 4'x8' plywood that was the soffit on both ends of the house where it entered and left. One piece wound up about 50 feet from the house.

The actual electricity doesn't scare me, it's the stuff it makes go flying.

When you are out in the woods or camping look at the number of trees that have a scar that spirals around the tree up and down for some distance, that's a lightning strike scar just to give you an indication of how many trees are struck when nobody is around.

[rowerwet]

they don't do this for long, lucky to get this shot!
YOUR TIRES WILL NOT PROTECT YOU FROM BEING HIT

[rowerwet]

they don't do this for long, lucky to get this shot!
YOUR TIRES WILL NOT PROTECT YOU FROM BEING HIT
a cage of wires or a metal skin will, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

[Techguy]

I could be wrong... but isn't the drive to and from the campground more dangerous than the lightning storm that MAY happen while in camp? Seems like we take a bigger risk driving everyday than we do in relation to lightning strikes.

According to the site below, 87 people die each year from strikes. I am sure more than that die in accidents, every day.

... and according to the same site, the safest place If no enclosed building is available, get inside a hard-topped, all metal vehicle.

http://www.wunderground.com/resources/education/lightning.asp

[Riptide]

Thunderstorms are something I have yet to experience in a TTT (build underway).

Done them in a sailboat both underway and at a dock....the next boat up the dock took the hit and despite a heavy ground wire running to salt water they had the antenna blown off by the strike and I assume the radio connected was cooked.

Done them in a tent in the Smokies and that was the most miserable end of a vacation ever! The storm rolled in at about 2:30 AM; the lightning flashing through the orange tent was un-nerving and the rain that followed felt like it was gonna wash us down the hill. Rained hard enough that it was coming through the top of the tent and the bottom of the tent was a slow moving river. This was back in the day I was tough enough (and cheap enough) not to use an air mattress. The old sleeping bags squished bubbles out when I slammed the hatchback on them at about 5 AM!

You could try putting up a lightning rod,if it makes you feel better, but lightning will do what lightning will do.

Kerry

[Dale M.]

If you are around to hear the thunder, the lightning didn't bother you.... IF you feel a sudden jolt and don't hear the thunder, you don't have to worry about it....

Actually if you are in area where there surrounding objects taller than you (like trees) you don't have much to worry about (other than tree falling on trailer)...

Love lightning and thunder storms, its nature at her finest....

Dale

[kybishop]

I have been in a good many camping and boating. Shorelines with lots of trees are a really bad place to be while on a boat, camping as well.

I have been close to quite a few lightning strikes, directly under one which was quite impressive. I guess it was one strike. Grew up in a really old stone house with wood shingles. The river valley we are in can be a hot spot for strikes on trees and buildings. It hit the house roof directly over where we were sleeping on the second floor. I remember five massive booms and flames arching over the windows on both sides of the house. Lit up the room and the thumping shook my wife awake. She has an 85% hearing loss and the noise and light instantly woke her up. It was impressive to say the least.

Another close strike was while taking the boat out of the river. We were in a hurry loading it on the trailer as the approaching thunderstorm started to overtake us. I strike hit the water just down river. I was in about thigh deep water aligning the boat on the trailer while it was getting pulled out. The strike made my legs give out and I had to grab hold of the boat as not to fall down in the water.

There was a fellow farmer that was recently killed while finishing up a water line. Storm popped up and struck her at the ditch digging machine while her son got knocked away. Quite the experienced and elderly farmer she was. Pretty sad.

Very much respected by me, storms of all makes.

Redmon

[bdosborn]

Had a big storm 2 years ago. The creek started to rise so we went home.



Bruce

[Engineer Guy]

I don't know how long this Video will be up on this Spanish Webpage, but here's some mighty impressive Video of a Flash Flood in UT.

I grew up around this phenom in SoCal. I did plenty of Google Earth Recon before heading out of Page AZ to the hinterlands of UT, overlooking Lake Powell, across a number of 'dry' Riverbed Washes. That Lake Powell Trip a few years ago is here in the Archives.

Note the Tire Tracks in the Mud on this Video. If you're on the 'wrong' side of this phenom, you're stuck for a long time. A super-nice Motel Owner in Page AZ told me to call him if I got stuck - there was excellent Cell coverage from a Mountaintop Tower - and he'd help me out [dead SUV Battery, etc.].

UT Flash Flood Video