Being Safe While Chasing

[Matthew Reis]

Hello,

My name is Matthew Reis. I am a beginning storm chaser and an NWS Skywarn spotter. This is my first year for chasing storms. I plan on chasing storms that occur near my home; I don’t want to venture out too far since I am inexperienced.

I need advice on storm chasing safety, particularly lightning safety. How do you stay safe while you’re outside your vehicle to video and photograph the storm? How do you avoid being struck by lightning?

I am fascinated by lightning and I want to video and photograph it as much as possible. But I do not want to even risk getting hit. I’d appreciate any advice you could give me.

Thank you!

 

[Marcus Diaz]

How do you stay safe while you’re outside your vehicle to video and photograph the storm? How do you avoid being struck by lightning?

I am fascinated by lightning and I want to video and photograph it as much as possible. But I do not want to even risk getting hit. I’d appreciate any advice you could give me.

Question 1: try not to be the only tall thing around you. And probably not best to stand under power lines while photographing.
Question 2: You don't really. I mean, if you get struck, you get struck. Not too much to avoid it unless you stay at a safe distance being as low to the ground as possible.

Its really the biggest risk we take while chasing. If the lightning gets really frequent and really serious, I try to stay in the car. I'll even set the tripod outside my car and site inside, just to play it safe.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Just stay in your car and you will be pretty safe from lightning. Venture out of the car, and you're at risk. While in the car, don't talk on the phone while it's plugged into the charger, and try not to touch any metal surfaces if possible.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Matthew, this is a good read for lightning safety...

Lightning Safety

 

[Matthew Reis]

Thank you, Marcus! Thank you, Jason! I appreciate your help!

 

[Todd Rector]

You can get some fantastic shots using a lightning trigger or remote shutter release with your camera on a tripod while you sit in (relative) safety inside your car, or even in a building. While it's certainly not possible to predict where lightning will strike, if you are seeing CG strikes all around you, you are too close.

 

[John Olexa]

I've been photographing lightning on & off for 15 years and 98% of the time I do everything wrong. I shoot in open fields even from a boat docks using an aluminum tripod, holding a cable release LOL. I can say I've never had a close call.There will always been a certain about of danger shooting lightning. Even your car is not 100% safe.

You can get a window clamp it's like a small tripod except it clamps to your door window glass and your camera mounts on top like it does on a regular tripod. It is safer but a real pain to maneuver. You can buy them for as low as $20.00 or higher. Just remember you are pretty safe in your car as long as you're not touching metal!!! when your car is struck.

 

[Matthew Reis]

Thanks again, everyone! This really helps!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Power lines offer decent lightning protection. The bigger/taller they are, the better. I always feel pretty safe setting up under major power lines. The main problem with setting up outside is dealing with the rain. I try to set up in my car if at all possible, more to help avoid raindrops than anything.

I still think that distracted driving (phones, tablets and laptops) may be the biggest danger in chasing, even post-El Reno.

 

[Drew Terril]

I still think that distracted driving (phones, tablets and laptops) may be the biggest danger in chasing, even post-El Reno.

This probably varies from person to person. As someone who has returned fire while driving a Humvee, what most people consider "distracted" driving is "staying alive" for me. Granted, I had training to drive in a combat zone with untold amounts of distractions, but I think most people would crap their pants if they knew what I've done behind the wheel of a military vehicle. I still spend more time looking for IEDs than I do watching the actual road in front of me during my everyday driving. Hell, I still check my 5's and 25's before I exit a vehicle (prior service guys know what I mean). I do think a lot of the principles that keep a soldier alive in combat help maintain situational awareness during a chase, and I look for every opportunity I can use to utilize my military training to help my chasing now.

 

[Alex Heimberger]

I'll just add you might be more at risk close to the forward flank down draft and the immediate surrounding areas. Though lightning can strike anywhere around the storm so best to stay in the car if you can or ride around with someone taller then you haha.

 

[Todd Rector]

I have shot lightning from the inside of a car wash bay and from the doorway of a barn. The barn was in an open field, but had lightning rods so I felt somewhat protected. Even when I shoot out in the open, I usually set up my tripod under my back hatch and shoot from a covered position (it also acts as an umbrella of sorts).

There is a 15 story building in Des Moines up on a hill which has open-air (but covered) balconies. I am going to try to get permission to shoot "lightning over the city" shots from it this Spring, but I honestly have no idea what kind of protection the structure would offer from a nearby side-strike.

I guess that's one of the trade-offs to safety - the best locations to shoot from are going to be relatively up high and in the open. Luckily you can get fantastic shots at quite a distance from where the bulk of the CG strikes are occurring - CG out ahead of a supercell can be easily shot from over 5 miles away if you are in clear air.

I love lightning photography, but lightning is BY FAR scarier to me than tornadoes, and I will be the first one to pack up my tripod if I don't feel like I am in a (relatively) safe position.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

Here's what freaks me out about lightning.

We were in southern Nebraska near dusk shooting this wanna-be wall cloud. The storm wasn't that strong at the time. Suddenly, 100 yards away, BOOM! SHOTGUN BLAST! There were taller objects around us; power lines, trees behind us, hell even that irrigation pivot off to the left. But nope, this lightning decided it wanted to strike right there in the open field. Maybe there was a metal pipe sticking up. Or maybe a very naughty Prairie Dog finally committed his last sin. Whatever the reason, lightning is nothing to brush off. Oh sure, you can play your chances, which I do most of the time. But if I don't have to be outside of my car, I won't.

 

[Isaac Pato]

I am fascinated by lightning and I want to video and photograph it as much as possible. But I do not want to even risk getting hit. I’d appreciate any advice you could give me.

I don't much like standing outside during CG barrages, so sometimes i'll just set up the tripod right outside the window without getting out of the car. Though this technique can make it a little harder to frame your images how you want them. At night, you have a bit more flexibility, since you can use the lightning bolt like a flash. I have had success by setting the camera to bulb and bumping up the f/stop, then holding the shutter open until the first lightning strike. There are pros and cons to that, but I have gotten some lightning shots from moving vehicles by doing that.

 

[Todd Rector]

As illustrated by @Marcus Diaz's pic, lightning does what it wants, when it wants, lethally, and at the speed of light. (great pic, by the way)
Pictures like this bother me, because they remind me that a zillion volts of electricity has no rational thought or logic. It finds the path of least resistance, wherever that path might be. It also reminds me that statistics we see on the Internet regarding the chances of being hit by lightning don't apply when you actively position yourself near storms to capture lightning pics or storm chase

 

[Matthew Reis]

Thanks again to everyone for all of your helpful suggestions and advice! I know that I'll be able to be a safer storm chaser because of your help!

 

[Justin Wilcox]

Pretty much what everyone else said. When sh*t gets thick I will set the tripod up right outside the window. The first shot or two I set the ISO really high to frame the shot, then bring it back down. Then I just set in my car with the wireless shutter remote.

 

[Greg Campbell]

If you are outside anywhere near a thunderstorm, particularly a big plains beast, you are in some degree of danger. That said, "Risk is the price of life."

FWIW, my safety list.

1. Stay in the car as much as possible. (I don't always obey this, since I greatly enjoy being out in the storm to some degree.)

2. Lightning will go where it pleases. Don't count on a cliff, building, radio tower or anything else nearby to nicely 'suck up' anything headed your way.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/19806236@N00/4906066689/in/set-72157622800084513

If anything, tall objects can alter the local EM field and steer lightning gently in their direction, without being struck. This lensing effect actually serves to concentrate the strikes in the ground area near the object! As you get closer, you may enter a genuine 'zone of protection.' Depending on the source you read, It extends only about half the object height from the object's base.

Squatting will lower your height by a few feet, and will fractionally reduce your chances of being directly struck. It's worth doing if you get stuck in a barrage far from cover, but heading for a safe building or vehicle is by far the better option.

3. Standing more or less directly beneath power lines is probably the one example of tall objects offering a significant increase in safety. Don't stand directly beneath, in case lightning somehow shatters an insulator - causing the whole mess to fall down upon you! And also stay well away from the poles, since the lightning will almost certainly be coming down them...

4. This brings us to the greatest lightning danger, 'ground current.' Ground current is responsible for the majority of injuries and deaths. (Direct strikes are rare, but are usually devastating.) A strike hundreds of feet away can potentially get you! Consider that the ground at the strike point has a potential of maybe 50~100 million volts. As the current dissipates, the voltage drops. Assume the ground 1000 feet away is a few thousand volts.... This generates an average voltage gradient of 50,000,000v / 1000ft = ~50,000 volts per foot in the ground you are standing on. If you happen to have one foot 6 inches closer to the strike point that the other, you suddenly have 25,000V (and plenty of current to go along) trying to crawl up your leg - rather a bad thing! To minimize this, make a habit of standing with your feet directly touching, and don't tough or handle anything near you (like cameras on tripods - LOL) Going further, I sometimes use a thick rubber mat with heavy steel screen glued to the base. Standing on this should (I hope) isolate me from some ground current danger. If I happen to be standing over a main 'channel' running through the ground, as seen at http://weatherthings.com/LightningTrench.html I'm probably going to be zorched no matter what...

 

[Todd Lemery]

If you start to tingle or your hair stands on end, there's a good chance you've been targeted and may be about to be struck by lightening. Immediately drop to the ground with your knees and elbows making contact with the ground. Clasp your hands over your head, and stick your butt in the air. You want your butt to be the highest point. The reasoning behind this is that in the event you are struck by lightening, you don't want the voltage to go through your vital organs. If you are hit in the butt, there is a good chance the lightening will only travel through your upper leg(s) before entering the ground through your knees. Not a pleasant thought, but better than having it go through your brain or chest.

 

[Isaac Pato]

The above information is incorrect. You want to minimize your contact points with the ground, because a large amount of current will flow through the ground during a lightning strike. If you do as described above, you will increase your risk of current flowing through your body from your knees to elbows, and all of your organs in between. See this page for the correct position: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pub/ltg/CLRP_feetWHY.php

 

[Dan Robinson]

The "crouch and tuck position" and its contorted variants (including the purely fictional "Twister" movie suggested position) have no documented evidence to support them being of any use. That is, there is no known incident where a person was struck directly by lightning while in those positions, so their effectiveness is purely conjectural (direct strikes are extremely rare anyway). It's my opinion that no "position" will help a direct strike victim much. Your entire body will experience potentially lethal current even if the main channel only uses part of it. That said, a ground current injury is far more likely than a direct strike, as Greg pointed out.

 

[Todd Lemery]

I apologize. I was going off old and inaccurate information. Thank you for correcting that.