Last year my wife and I rode our bikes across the US. There are huge expanses where no shelter is available. Luckily, there were no air mass thunderstorms around us during our trip, but these guidelines don’t have anything to say about those caught outside, beyond shelter.
So, there are some things one can do in those situations.
I did talk with John Jensenius about trends, and one of the big developments has been people on mountains out West - it's not like they can go indoors, after all. They may be able to find a ledge they can get underneath, but that's about it.
Some of the main things are NOT to do certain things many people do... like get underneath trees. Not a good idea.
I think the guidelines would say - tough luck, you're screwed!
Yeah, as actuaries, we can be the people who sometimes say... there's only so much you can control
I responded to Jeff Guinn -- you can improve your odds in some cases, but sometimes you just get caught out
Last year my wife and I rode our bikes across the US. There are huge expanses where no shelter is available. Luckily, there were no air mass thunderstorms around us during our trip, but these guidelines don’t have anything to say about those caught outside, beyond shelter.
So, there are some things one can do in those situations.
I did talk with John Jensenius about trends, and one of the big developments has been people on mountains out West - it's not like they can go indoors, after all. They may be able to find a ledge they can get underneath, but that's about it.
Some of the main things are NOT to do certain things many people do... like get underneath trees. Not a good idea.
This OSHA factsheet is good: https://www.weather.gov/media/owlie/OSHA_FS-3863_Lightning_Safety_05-2016.pdf
But the main things are:
- do not be the tallest thing around
- stay away from water (like ponds, lakes, etc) -- a lot of the lightning strike victims are in/on water
If you can't get indoors, you can at least improve your odds by getting low to the ground, not being in puddles (to the extent you can), etc.