In the wake of recent tragedies, it's worth a bit of review of flood and lightning safety. In the case of floods, here's some data from the National Weather Service and their partners:
- More deaths occur due to flooding than any other thunderstorm hazard.
- Over half of all flood-related drownings occur when a vehicle is driven into flood waters.
- The next highest percentage of flood-related deaths is due to walking into or near flood waters.
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| Source: National Weather Service |
As evident in near the Cottonwood Fire and Beaver, fire scars can be especially problematic for flash flooding and debris flows.
National Weather Service lightning safety tips and resources are available at https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning. Lightning kills about 20 people a year nationwide, most commonly in summer, but deaths have occurred in all seasons (and in fact lightning is a threat for skiers in Utah which has a relatively high rate of thundersnow). If you can hear thunder and are outdoors, you should move indoors or into a hard-topped car if you can. If you are car camping and are in a tent of soft-sided trailer, move into a vehicle. If you are at an outdoor sporting event, move indoors or into your car.
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| Source: https://www.weather.gov/media/owlie/backcountry_lightning.pdf |
In the backcountry, more than 30 minutes from an enclosed modern building or vehicle, lightning safety is about minimizing risk. The most important thing is to monitor forecasts and time your visit to high-risk areas such as mountain peaks, ridgelines, and open water areas accordingly. Think of it as being the equivalent of selecting the proper terrain for a given avalanche hazard. Next is to move to safer terrain, as quickly as safely possible, if you hear thunder or believe the thunderstorm hazard is increasing. This will not eliminate risk, but strikes are more random in lower elevation areas. Avoid high trees, open areas, and if you can find a dry, lower elevation area, move there. Pick tent sites to minimize risk too, but be careful when looking at ravines and other gullies if there is a possibility of flash flood.
Below is more detailed information from a brochure put together by the National Weather Service and NOLS. Note that getting into the lightning position is a last resort. If you can move to a safer location focus on that. For example, if I was on a ridge, I would move down in elevation as fast as I safely could rather than stay there in the lightning position.
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| Source: https://www.weather.gov/media/owlie/backcountry_lightning.pdf |
Many of the "FACETS" heuristic traps in avalanche accidents also apply to lightning safety.
F=Familiarity. Something that feels familiar feels safer, but just because you've survived lightning storms at high elevations in the past doesn't mean you will today.
A=Acceptance. You want to fit in or impress your friends by climbing a line or bagging a peak, which might increase your tendency to push it as weather hazard increases.
C=Commitment. You don't want to turn around from the summit when you have invested time and effort and are more likely to to push it as weather hazard increases.
E=Expert Halo. There's a tendency to defer decisionmaking to others with more experience. Don't assume your friend with years of mountaineering experience is going to make the right weather-related decisions.
T=Tracks/Scarcity. This one might be more seasonal, but since there is lightning risk in winter, don't ignore it because you want to get first tracks of the top of Mt. Superior.
S=Social Facilitation. This one is actually very valid to lightning safety. It is much harder to move to a building or car, turn around from high elevations, or get off the lake when noone else is doing it. However, just because nobody else is doing it doesn't mean you shouldn't be doing something to reduce risk.
All of that said, I've been there. In fact, the event that I often think of as pushing me into meteorology happened when I was a teenager backpacking with my Dad and we had to run very rapidly from and Adirondack peak to a lower-elevation pass as a thunderstorm moved in. I've been pelted by hail and graupel during thunderstorms in the Uintas, keeping to the lowest terrain without flood potential possible. And I've spent time in the lightning position on backpack trips. On Saturday, we hiked in the morning because of the increasing thunderstorm hazard during the day, yet were just getting to our car when the thunder started at 11:30.
Use the tips above to adventure at the safest times and to know what to do to minimize risk when you are caught out.
