Lightning, nature’s beautiful gift and lethal strike, creates fascination and a healthy respect, if not fear. Now’s a good time to review the phenomena because about 70 percent of lightning fatalities occur in June, July and August.
Multiple lightning-caused fires have already been reported in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Fire managers are monitoring these fires. Britt Davis, North Zone Fire Management Officer for the forest, said hikers may notice smoke and some trails may be affected.
Smoke may be seen from Mineral Park Campground, Cascade River Road and trailheads 766, 767 and 769 from the Mineral Park fire.
Smoke is visible from trails 791, 792 and 798 from the Suiattle Complex-Dusty fire and the Suiattle Complex-Chocolate fire.
Davis asks hikers to report any new fires to the state wildland fire hotline at 800-562-6010. It’s best to check with the ranger stations before venturing out.
What causes lightning?
The simplest explanation is that in electrically charged storm systems, such as thunderstorms, ice particles are constantly colliding at the boundary between the darkest clouds (the anvil) and the lighter ones.
The collisions create huge electrical fields that, when the difference in charge between the upper and lower portions of the cloud is wide enough, can release a lightning bolt of electricity.
What we see as a single flash is really a series of strokes. The bolt is the size of a quarter or half-dollar, hotter than the sun’s surface and generally 4 to 6 miles long. The heat expands almost instantaneously, causing thunder.
Lightning can strike the same place twice, especially on mountaintops, so hikers and climbers beware.
It does have a good side. Lightning creates nitrogen oxide that generates a large percentage of usable nitrogen in the air and soil. And lightning-caused forest fires can create space for new growth.
Anti-lightning tactics
Forget the flash-to-bang rule. Still popular, the flash-to-bang estimate can tell you how far away you are from lightning as sound travels 1 mile in 5 seconds. But many factors contribute to when you can hear the sound, if you can, and there’s no way of knowing how far a particular bolt will strike.
Being inside a home (or a car, in a pinch) is much safer than being outside. But because homes are often struck by lightning, avoid a bath or shower during a lightning storm, don’t use a landline phone, TV or other appliances that conduct electricity and put off washing the dishes. Talking on a landline phone is the leading cause of lightning injuries inside the home.
If you’re caught outside in a lightning storm, seeking shelter under a tall tree or being on the water are definitely discouraged. Swimming is particularly dangerous because water conducts electricity.
And don’t be the tallest object around. Find a low spot and crouch down but, as much as it may seem sensible, don’t lay down. Lightning that strikes the ground means that its current may move along the surface, where your whole body will be exposed.
If you’re hiking with a group, spread out, which can help prevent multiple injuries and ensure that someone can help if there’s an injury.
By the numbers
The odds of becoming a lightning victim is 1 in 700,000 in any one year; of being struck in your lifetime, 1 in 3,000.
Lightning caused the death or cardiac arrest of 3,700 people in the U.S. between 1959 and 2003. Of those who died, 85 percent were men.
About 70 percent of lightning-strike survivors suffered long-term damage.
Each bolt can contain up to 1 billion volts of electricity.
There are about 20,000 strokes of lightning from clouds to ground during about 100,000 U.S. thunderstorms every year, or about 1 per second.
The planet may be struck by an average of more than 100 lightning bolts every second.
Lightning causes about 80 percent of all accidental livestock deaths.
Lightning bolts can travel 25 to 40 miles horizontally before heading to ground. A 110-mile-long bolt was detected traveling from Waco to Fort Worth-Dallas, Texas.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Snoqualmie-Mount Baker National Forest public affairs office contributed to this article.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
