Summer/thunderstorm Season Is Here

[DougPaul]

I forget the techincal name for it, but your safe because electricity rides the surface of metal to the shortest route to the ground. I saw an interesting display at the BostonMuseum of science. A lady in a Giant metal ball had electricity zapping the cage on the outside, but she was able to touch the inside with no problems.

The cage is called a Faraday Cage. A "perfect" Faraday Cage has no holes and there will be no electrical fields inside. (This means that all points inside will be at the same voltage and no currents will flow.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

Just for the record, current does not always take the shortest path and lightning, in particular, can take some rather non-obvious paths.

In the case of a car, (a Faraday Cage with a number of big holes), electricity will generally pass on the outside. However, if you are close to the glass or stick your arm out the window, you will be at risk of a shock.

Some comments on the above in the post pointed out by AdkWalrus, particularly in the section on "other myths": http://adkhighpeaks.com/forums/showpost.php?p=39152&postcount=10

Doug

 

[blacknblue]

We have officially hit "9.2" on the Sarcasm Scale.

I know a few people who have been hit by lightning, and a few others who were close (including having their hair stand up and one girl whose braces were glowing blue). I hiked/backpacked/climbed a lot in Colorado and always erred on the side of caution. Back East, I've had to hole up in a building on Mt. Washington while a t-storm passed, but it's not hard to avoid getting hit. I think playing golf is probably more dangerous than hiking for lightning-strike purposes (unless you're playing golf above treeline, which I don't recommend for other reasons).

Besides, haven't you seen "The Natural"?

 

[Maddy]

Many years ago, I came to appreciate that the VT weather forecast is much the same on a daily basis. Sun, clouds and chance of thunderstorms. I used to cancel my hikes until I came to appreciate that "chance of thunderstorms" are a given.
Last year up at Ricker, I would check in with the "ranger" to see when and if we would be getting any great storms. On a least 4 separate occasions we were suppose to get really big ones. Unfortunately, none of them made it to Ricker. I love hunkering down in the lean-to and watching as they descend on us. Very disappointing!
In the 80's we were climbing up Mansfield and nearing the shelter on the LT when out of woods came the "ranger" yelling "get in the shelter NOW!" Three unpredicted, back to back, storms came in. Without warning the sky went black,the winds came up and this went on for hours. It ended with an enormous sleet storm and Killington got some 13 or more inches of snow. Some folks went skiing up there in August.
I really thought we were going to have a major tornado when I saw the sky. As soon as the first storm abated, the ranger told us to head down and not dilly dally. Two more were two more were to follow.
Emergency personnel had big troubles that day. Roads were impassable because of tree fall, boats were overturned on Lake Champlain, people stranded everywhere, lightning strikes. It was both scary and very exciting. We got to see the the sleet from our lean-to at Smugglers. It was truly amazing.
So...on that note I gave up paying too much attention to the "predicitions" in the mountains.(Winter not included.) If things don't look too good , I modify my hike.
Obviously, above treeline travel is another story. "I turn back without shame, for the worse is yet to come. Freezing fog blinds and suffocates, hurricane force winds exhaust the strongest hikers." I memorized that quote years ago for my first ever AMC guidebook. It has served me well on all my hikes!
I'm sure some of you will remember that storm. You might have even been up there. If you experienced it, I doubt you would ever forget it. Hiking,camping and surviving it was indeed a great adventure. Have not seen anything like it since.

 

[jrbren]

I am actually canceling my hike plans this weekend to get other things done at home, given I will not be able to see anything other then the inside of a cloud up in the mountains this weekend anyway, T-storm or no T-storm. It is also very humid, which is just not that pleasant for me. Lightning is a minor concern, but I certainly would be choose a more sheltered hike (say Camel's Hump over Mansfield, as the former is much easier to duck back into the woods quickly). I did abort a Mansfield climb last summer due to thunder, I turned back at the forehead instead of walking the ridge as planned to the chin. The forecast for that day was the generic "partly cloudy with a chance of showers, may even a thunder shower". I would not climb the Presi's, which is actually where I want to go next given good weather. I need to train for a trekking trip in India I have in August. I will stick to running this weekend and maybe get the kayak out, sticking close to shore on a river paddle. This weather pattern makes it hard to see storms coming with the thick haze even when it is "sunny".

My group got caught in an electrical storm on Iztaccihuatl in Mexico last November (~17K'), which caused us turn back about 20 minutes short of the summit. We basically ran for about a mile or so along the ridge to get into a ravine that was not glaciated. There really are no trees to make a treeline on this one. We were very conscious of our ice axes, trekking poles. Considered ditching them, but did not (litter vs. safety). This was actually the first storm I ever personally experienced with snow and thunder and lightning. So net is I am comfortable hiking in electrical storms through the woods and Valleys, not on ridges or above tree line.

 

[skiguy]

is it safe to hike this weekend?

Probably not...if you think thunderstorms are a threat wait until the upslope effect occurs!

 

[grouseking]

Hiked Camels Hump today and got some nice downpours on the way up, which helped to put off the severe weather till later. It really does pay to hike early. I was done by two. But I need to get up there sometime soon, it looks like views would be amazing....on a clear day.

grouseking

 

[marty]

Hail

We just had a vicious thunderstorm in Boxford MA, with about 5 minutes of hail . They were pretty big, about the size of Lemon Drops candy. The thunder was loud and frequent and there was lots of vivid lightning too. Rained about .6 inches in a very short period. Great viewing from our screen porch!

Marty

 

[grouseking]

It ended up being a nasty late afternoon and evening, in both northern and southern New England. I found this video on youtube from yesterday's storm that produced a tornado warning in Essex county, MA. I think this was taken in Ipswich.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTUIBTGS88c

Definitely something I would not want to hike thru!

grouseking

 

[--M.]

This is too scary, and I'm giving up going outside. I also heard that if you're near someone who has been struck by lightning, you can get second-hand smoke off them. I heard someone got cancer this way. I heard you can leave your kids in a Faraday cage as long as you can see them through the convenience-store window. I heard if you're watching a DVD in a Faraday cage, your brain could rot, or that if you're holding a cell-phone in a lightning storm, it will attract a strike and you'll all be KILLED! I heard that.

Happy trails!