weather safety?

[lostagain]

Well, down here, it doesn't matter if I'm hanging or ground sleeping. For us when those thunderstorms popup we worry more about the wind than lightning. 50+ mph gusts will put a definite damper on your day.

I'd say don't worry much about getting struck by lightning. After all, unless you're in the middle of a field, you're surrounded by trees that are a lot taller than you. Chances are one of those will be hit long before you are. BUT...you do need to worry about what happens when that tree comes down.

[webhanger]

How do you only half die? Is that like a coma....

I think it is described as being killed, but not killed dead.

I always am awestruck by the thunder storms. I've never been to worried about being hit although some of my favorite hiking places are sprinkled with memorials of folks killed by rouge lightning strikes over the decades.

The only time I have ever worried about it is when my hair starts standing up from the static. That leaves you very little time to respond to your "safe spot" before you get sent to your happy place.

That said when I was a kid a hiker had his pack take a direct hit while he was wearing it. It put him in the hospital burn unit for months.

Maybe that's where the .5 dead comes from.

[Zigerot]

I usually make sure that the trees im stringing up to aren't taller then the others around them. I have been in this one storm ( i think i made a thread about it ) that scared me to the point of shaking. I figured that laying with my feet off the ground in a hammock with almost no metal on it was safer then anywhere else that was in walking distance.

And hey, it only hurts if you survive.

[Oms]

Working inches away from 480V on a regular basis has shown me a health respect for electricity. That is nothing compared to lightning. That scares the heck out of me. If possible I will seek shelter, but if its not possible I probably would hang in the hammock. What worries me equally as much is a tree or branch coming down during the storm. Another reason to hang in smaller trees.

[Chug]

after reading the lighting safety.. I will do my best to Lesson the chance of getting zapped. Did have one my car's parked in parking lot get zapped. Curled the pain, in a 1/4" dia pattern. ( all electronics were still good)

I worry more of the Storms high winds, Shaking loose a Branch & making Hammock a Pin cushion for that twig Or large branch.

Bad enough in the other life, of sleeping in a tent. Having Pine cones pelting the Tent. Few Squirrels are guilty of that too.

[Hammonkey]

Im not TOO worried.

1) Im not sleeping out in the open in a tent supported with aluminum lighting rods, I mean tent poles.
2) Im not grounded

The only worry I would have is if lightning struck the tree Im hung from and it fell on me.

[HURTHEART]

Interesting thread. I was going to make a smart comment about out here on the West Coast of Oregon, no one worries much about lightning. Chug, closed down that sort of comment.

In my experience most Oregonians do not have any idea of the power of Thunder Storms. As a kid we played and swam through them. When as an adult I moved to Missouri I learned just how powerful the storms really are. The first storm was not a worry, it was normal to me to go out and chase my trash can down the block. Sure I saw a few trees after lightening struck them, but they were always in a park and not an immediate threat to anyone.

Well in Mo, they are a threat, my garage was hit, my car was hit, our semi truck was struck. Then there are the Tornadoes, what a shock that was when one just came down and moved my roof about 6 inches off center. Roofers came out jacked the roof up and moved it back where it belonged and nailed it down again.

I still love being out in a Thunderstorm in Western Oregon, I do hang on an average height tree. I am not afraid, I just love it, what a way to go if and when it is my time. But then I am an admitted Adrenalin Junkie. I was probably laughing when I was borne instead of crying. My parents should have realized I thrived on testing myself early on, I remember being in a flood and ridding on the roof of our house, thinking it was great fun, I was almost 3 years old.

I think where you live or have lived in the past are part of the difference in how people perceive storms. I noticed in Alberta and B.C. along with here in Oregon, most people are not particularly concerned. It always shocks me that kids play Baseball when there is thunder and or lightening. Here the game just goes on.

[Whiskeyjack]

Growing up in a city named Thunder Bay has given me lots of exposure to lightening. Years of working and living in the bush throughout the year has also exposed me to too many thunder storms to count. I've had a few close calls, but it's still not something that I fear. Take precautions and use your head and chance are you're going to come out unscathed and all the more in awe of nature.
And if you fear lightening, remember that you're much more likely to die driving your car, or even by being gunned down while sitting at your desk than you are by lightening. And you likely don't put much thought into either of those.

[cjayflo]

I grew up on the Plains. I respect any storm and make plans to stay safe, but I try to go about what I am doing. Tied off to two trees with no metal above makes me feel a lot safer than being in a clear spot surrounded by a metal cage.

[Brimstone]

I had a friend that was hit by lightning about ten years ago. He was tent camping in NC and was in the tent during a bad storm. I don't understand the physics of it, but lightning hit nearby and traveled through the ground and then up INTO HIS BUM and out through his leg. It was pretty horrible.

I feel pretty safe in a hammock, but I do worry about a tree getting hit and causing falling limbs.