Matthew Reis
Enthusiast
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!
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Being Safe While Chasing
- Thread starter Matthew Reis
- Start date
Justin Wilcox
EF2
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
EF5
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...
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...
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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
EF1
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
EF5
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.
I apologize. I was going off old and inaccurate information. Thank you for correcting that.
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