How should we protect ourselves from a lightning strike?

First of all: try to think and plan ahead. Don't get caught on a mountain top during a thunder storm... Keep an eye on the weather and change your route accordingly.

Location:
Make sure you're not exposed and not the highest point in the immediate vicinity. So stay off of summits, hills, and don't stand upright in the middle of a vast field.

• Ideal: (obviously) cars or shelters which have lightning rods. (Other stationary shelter will do okay too I guess.)
• Good: Forests (unless in an actual storm with very high wind speeds), valley ground (keep away from streams and rivers, they might suddenly swell!)

• Passable: near cliff bottoms (make sure you're not endangered by rocks coming loose above you during the rain), taking shelter next to boulders, in trenches or other depressions in the terrain.

• Don't stand near solitary trees. Such trees are rather likely to get hit, and standing beneath one can be very dangerous for several reasons (electric current of the lightning will spread through the ground; wood can explode when hit by lightning, resulting in shrapnel; deafening noise)

Position:
Priority one really should be to get to a safe location. If this is not possible, or you have reached the safest (but still potentially unsafe) location nearby, keeping correct body position can help:

• Don't stand upright, especially not if this makes you higher than other points of impact (shrubs and alike...).
• Don't lie flat on the ground. If lightning strikes nearby the current which dissipates through the ground is more likely to hurt you if you cover a larger area of the ground. The same goes for your feet: keep them together, not apart.
• Crouch or sit on the ground: keep as small an area of contact with the ground, while at the same time trying to minimize your height.
• (Thanks @Benedikt Bauer) If possible try to sit on some insulating material, like your backpack or sleeping pad.

posted almost 9 years ago

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fgysin reinstate Monica‭

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(NB: I would have added this as a comment to @fgysin's answer, but I don't have enough rep. to comment yet.)

@fgysin's answer (and the associated comments) is very thorough, and covers most points.

However, there's one other thing worth considering (unless you're alone). If you haven't been able to get to a safe location, and are sitting out the storm as advised (crouching or sitting on the ground, keeping a small contact area and minimizing you height), you should -- if the terrain allows it -- maintain some separation between members of your party.

This is because, if the worst happens, and there's a ground strike close enough to incapacitate someone in the group, you really want there to be somebody else available to start administering first aid if required. If you're all sat huddled together (not unreasonable if it's cold, wet and windy), the current could affect everybody simultaneously, resulting in multiple injuries, and making the situation that much more serious.

How far apart you should sit (again, assuming the terrain allows it), isn't so clear. A quick Google shows respected authorities recommending a minimum separation of 20 feet, 50 feet, and 100 feet.

I was in this very situation (caught out during a storm in the high mountains, with no safe place to retreat to) in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa some years ago. Fortunately, there were no ground strikes close enough to cause any injuries, but the group of 15 or so did spend a good 20 minutes knelt on the ground, spaced well apart, as the storm passed overhead.

posted almost 9 years ago

CC BY-SA 3.0

antarc914‭

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