There is no way of knowing where lightning will strike. It may, indeed, struck twice in the same place. And it was even recorded in the strike up to 25 miles from the actual storm.
So how do you defend yourself against something you can not possibly predict? The key is to be smart in whatever situation you are.
Lightning science
It is common knowledge that lightning is electricity. But how electricity out of the clouds?
Turns out, the ice is to blame. Like tiny pieces of ice machine around in a storm cloud, they split into positively charged ions and negatively. The positive aspects of upward drift of the clouds and the negative effects of drift downward. Electricity - and lightning - occurs as the electrons move between two loads
A similar process occurs between the mobile storm cloud and the ground: the negatively charged cloud base causes a positive charge build on the land, which. in turn causes electricity - something like 100 million volts of it -. the flow of the cloud to the ground
Outside
generally lightning strikes tall things that conduct electricity. So first, stay away things large :.
- Stay away fields, beaches and other areas all around is shorter than you are
- stay out of the mountains during a storm - .. or at least get below the tree line
Second, stay in gap likely to be hit material. You can not do much on the conduct of the electricity you (the human body is good enough), but you can at least make sure that you do nothing to improve it:
- out of the water, including puddles. Even rubber boots will not help much.
- Do not touch anything in or containing metal.
Of course, your best bet to stay safe is to find shelter. However, common outdoor shelters can be just as dangerous as no shelter in a storm. When lightning hits something like a house or school, it travels through the wiring and pipes - which are grounded - and dangerous current eventually enter the land where he can not make wrong. When lightning strikes something like a shed, however, you will not have this protection.
So make sure you choose your shelter appropriately. You want something that is completely closed - no picnic shelters or open garages -. And plumbing and wiring
Inside
Being inside a building is wired and plumbed safer than being outside, but there Until a few precautions. Remember the lightning moves through the pipes and son. So avoid. Stay away from sinks, toilets and bathtubs as well as all electronic devices that you can interact with, such as computers, video game consoles and wireline phones.
Stay inside until at least 30 minutes after the last lightning or thunder.
Want more?
See what the experts have to say about lightning and lightning safety:
- The National Security Institute lightning
- Severe Storms national Laboratory
- The lightning safety website The National Weather Service
This article was orginally published in June 09.
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