Lightning Safety

The Rocky Mountains attract millions of visitors each year, and, unfortunately, some of these visitors are hit by lightning. These lightning-related injuries usually affect healthy people who are engaged in recreation or sports. Being hit above timberline is often fatal. The typical casualty is a healthy man in his mid-30s. Most injuries occur in the summer months between 11:00 am and 9:00 pm. High on the list of activities are mountain hiking, climbing, camping, fishing, boating, and golfing.

Lightning strikes can be preventable!

Be aware and take steps to lower your risk of being struck.

• If you are caught above the tree line when a storm approaches, descend quickly. Avoid isolated trees. It is better to run into a forest.
• Electric storms can also develop in the middle of the night. To lower your odds, don't pitch your tent near the tallest trees in the vicinity.
• Drop metal objects like hiking poles, fishing poles and packs with internal or external metal frames.
• Get off motorcycles, ATVs, bicycles, boats and horses. Metal fences, and utility poles are also to be avoided.
• If you are caught in an open field, seek a low spot. Crouch with your feet together and head low.
• Don't sit or lie down, because these positions provide much more contact with the ground, providing a wider path for lightning to follow. If you are with a group and the threat of lightning is high, spread out at least 15 feet apart to minimize the chance of everybody getting hit (see "If Someone Is Struck").
• Don't return to an open area too soon. People have been struck by lightning near the end of a storm, which is still a dangerous time.

Summer thunderstorms pose a threat to your safety in the backcountry

• Descend to tree line by noon. Plan trips to descend from high elevations to avoid afternoon thunderstorms above timberline.  When skies begin to look threatening, they already are.  Anytime clouds develop vertically and cloud bases grow dark, a lightning hazard exists, even before you hear thunder or see lightning. 
• Monitor approaching storms on the horizon as well as thunderstorm development overhead or nearby.  Lightning bolts can strike 10-15 miles out from a thunderstorm. 
• Seek cover in a building or vehicle (if possible).  That means a substantial building (not picnic shelters, bus stops, dugouts, etc.) or inside a metal, covered vehicle (not open jeeps, ATVs ).  If inside a vehicle or building, don't touch anything that could conduct electricity.

 If caught out in the backcountry during a thunderstorm

• Retreat from high exposed areas quickly. Minimize the chance of a direct hit, don’t be the tallest object in the vicinity.  Lightning often seeks higher objects, because it's a shorter gap for the electrical charge to bridge, so being near a single tall tree or group of tall trees in an opening is also dangerous.  Move into a stand of smaller trees in a lower position on the landscape to increase the odds that lightning will strike higher points or taller objects instead. 
• Squat down with your head on your knees, feet and legs together, and balance on the balls of your feet. The majority of lightning strikes are not direct hits, but rather arc from another object or through the ground after a nearby strike. Dangerous ground currents can reach out up to 100 yards from the object that is struck.  Minimizing your contact with the ground will minimize the likelihood of being hit by a ground arc. 
• Spread out! In dangerous situations, it's advisable for groups to separate, not huddle together.  If a ground arc hits one person, it will probably affect everyone nearby.  By spreading well out, you reduce the odds of everyone being hit.
• Avoid objects that conduct electricity, like water channels or metal fencing.  Lightning can follow streams or barbed wire fences for long distances, flow into the ground, and spread out.

Even when a thunderstorm is far away or has already passed over, lightning danger may remain.   

While most lightning strikes originate from the negatively charged lower levels of a thunder cloud and bridge the gap to corresponding positive charges on the ground, far more powerful strokes can originate from the positively charged upper portions of a cumulonimbus cloud, extending miles into clear air (often behind the thunderstorm), and angling to the ground many miles from the storm itself.  Because of the much greater gaps these positive strokes bridge to corresponding negatively charged ground objects (including people), they are much more powerful. A thunderstorm may have passed, the sun is out and the sky is blue; so you're back to play or work. Wham!  Likewise, such strokes can precede a storm by miles for the same reason.  

On the water - Swimmers, anglers, and boaters should get off lakes or rivers and seek shelter when storms approach. Drop any fishing rods. Boaters who cannot get off the water before the storm hits should crouch low. Once on land, get at least 100 yards away from shore.

If Someone Is Struck By Lightning

People who have been hit by lightning carry no electric charge and can be safely tended to. Also, victims who appear dead can often be revived. If the person is not breathing, begin mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But if a pulse is absent as well and you know cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), begin CPR. Stay with the victim until help arrives.

Remember: This information is not intended as a substitute for medical treatment. If you have a health-related concern, consult a physician. Also, the tips discussed here may lower injury risk, but the unpredictability of lightning affords no guarantees.

For more information on the subject of lightening behavior and safety, go to:  www.crh.noaa.gov/pub/ltg.php