Moments afterwards this moving-picture show was taken, these brothers were struck by lightning on Moro Stone, CA, 1975. Credit: nbcnews.com

Lightning strikes the earth 45 times every unmarried second (that'due south i.four billion flashes a year). According to the NOAA, the United States averages 51 lightning strike fatalities every year, second only to flooding for deadly conditions. Ten times that corporeality are struck only survive. The odds of becoming a lightning victim in the US in any given year is 1 in 700,000, and the odds of being struck in your lifetime is 1 in 3000. The riskiest activities are fishing, boating, camping, and golf.

  • Related: Lightning Myths Debunked! Dissever the Facts from the Fiction and How to Survive a Lightning Strike

Summer is the peak season for lightning-related injuries and fatalities (July 4th in particular). More people are outside having fun in areas more susceptible to electrical storms. In a strike in the Uinta Mountains, UT where 3 immature sisters were all struck, their father was hailed a hero for the measures he took upon realizing they were in the midst of an electrical storm and saving their lives.

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Lightning strike, California. Credit: Phil McGrew

If you're reading this site, then more than probable y'all're an outdoor kinda person who enjoys hiking, camping, fishing, and beingness in the mountains. And then your chances of being struck are probably college than virtually. But at that place are measures we tin accept to minimize the risks, and ensure we partake in our adventures as safety as possible.

Basic rules to minimize your risks during an electrical tempest:

  • Check the atmospheric condition reports before starting an activity. If storms are expected, be more vigilant, or postpone. Sympathize the weather systems for the area and season. In mountains, storms typically form in the afternoon so plan an early morn hike and aim to be off the tiptop, into your descent and below treeline before 1 pm.
  • Go on an eye on the conditions and deject formations during the day. If a deject looks ominous, or you see lightning, have your escape or safe plan set up and make sure everybody in your grouping understands it.
  • Listen for thunder. Depending on wind, terrain, and distance, yous may not hear thunder until lightning is already dangerously shut. If you practise hear thunder, count between the dissonance and the wink of lightning. If it is less than 30 seconds (for every 5 seconds, the storm is 1 mile away) y'all should already be in shelter. If not, you need to accept quick action. Once the thunder has passed, wait another thirty minutes before leaving your shelter, giving the storm time to pass and minimizing your chances of being struck.

Most people do non realize that they can be struck by lightning even when the middle of a thunderstorm is 10 miles away and there are blue skies overhead. If you tin can hear thunder, y'all are within 10 miles of a storm and can exist struck by lightning. Seek shelter and avoid situations in which you may be vulnerable.

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Backcountry lightning chance management. Credit: USNWS

If you do become defenseless in a tempest, follow the advice beneath:

If outdoors:

  • Avoid water. Avoid the high ground. Avert open spaces. Avert anything metallic. Do non shelter nether picnic tables, canopies, inside tents or near copse. Detect shelter in a substantial building, or ameliorate notwithstanding in a fully enclosed metal vehicle such as a car, truck, van. Shut the windows completely and don't touch the metal interior. If you are unable to observe shelter then:
  • Come downward from high places, seek a valley or depression in the terrain.
  • Seek shelter in a low stand of trees. This will help continue you dry out and not attract lightning. If yous are above treeline, seek shelter in the lowest expanse you can reach, preferably with large boulders around so you can get some protection from driving rain behind some smaller boulders.
  • Put on your raingear and remove your backpack. If you take a metal frame pack, sticks or poles, get out them 100 feet from where y'all are seeking shelter. There is no completely safe place from lightning. Houses get hitting, cars get hit, copse, animals, and people all get hit. Minimizing your strike probability is the name of the game.
  • Squat downward and ringlet up to become as pocket-sized a target as possible. Put your heels together in order to let the current period through one leg to the other, and come upwardly on the balls of your feet to minimize ground contact. Put your hands over your ears and close your eyes, lightning is loud and bright!
  • Spread out. Your political party should put at to the lowest degree 15 feet betwixt each other.

If indoors:

  • Avert water. Don't accept a bath/shower
  • Stay abroad from doors and windows.
  • Do non use the telephone or any electric appliances. Hard-wired phone use is the leading cause of indoor lightning injuries in the United States.
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The hunker position to assume when lightning strikes. Credit: artofmanliness.com/Ted Slampyak

If your political party is struck by lightning:

  • Practise a headcount, inquire everybody to retrieve to you that they are ok. If somebody does not reply, get to their location. If there are multiple casualties, prioritize care. People not breathing would be the highest priority. Injured persons do not carry an electrical accuse and can exist handled safely. Employ kickoff aid procedures if qualified to do so. Call 911 and/or transport for help immediately. Know your emergency telephone numbers.
thunder, lightning, storm, electrical, safety
When thunder roars, go indoors! Great advice from the NOAA.

Lightning isn't all bad. In fact, the Earth depends on lightning strikes to maintain its electrical residuum. The National Severe Storms Laboratory explains:

Lightning helps the Earth maintain electrical balance. The Earth is recharged past thunderstorms. The Earth's surface and the temper acquit electricity easily—the World is charged negatively and the temper, positively. At that place is always a steady current of electrons flowing upwards from the entire surface of the World. Thunderstorms help transfer the negative charges dorsum to World (lightning is generally negatively charged). Without thunderstorms and lightning, the earth-atmosphere electrical residue would disappear in 5 minutes. Lightning besides makes ozone-producing chemicals.

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