Lightning Detectors

[WestTX RT]

It's that time of year, especially here in tornado alley. Is the technology in handheld lightning detectors getting to the point that you can tell distance and direction? I've been out in the middle of the NM badlands and would love to have been able to stop and monitor what was going on with the cloud and the distance and direction of the lightning.

The two main things that scare me while riding are deer and lightning. I'm afraid lightning detectors may be as effective as deer whistles.

[SageRider]

My Garmin 376c with XMWeather seems to portray ground strikes quite well (Master Mariner subscription). Coming back from Texas Hill Country, I was able to observe then gauge passage right between two major cells about 5 miles apart. I did pass through the torrential downpour which included both lightning cells as well as the area between. Also, for about a 10 minute period as I approached the band, there was a pinpoint at the south end of the cell with a predicted path. Whatever the issue was, it desolved prior to me reaching that point. I believe that this was a tornado warning, but have not yet verified that as fact.

This type of weather was one of the two main reasons I acquired this system. The other reason is snow. Where I now live, snow is possible from October to June. With the long distances between points in rural Nevada, if one is to ride in marginal winter weather, it is a very good idea to have a clear enough picture that one doesn't get stranded in the middle of nowhere.

 

The 376c is not a handheld lightning detector, but it most assuredly can do what you are asking for.

[velomoto]

My Garmin 376c with XMWeather seems to portray ground strikes quite well (Master Mariner subscription).

+1

Aside from steering clear of thunderstorms all together, there is nothing which can accurately help one avoid lightning at close range. Besides, even if one had a device which could make the prediction of a near-by strike, lightning occurs so quickly that one could not possible avoid the strike. Having been caught on the top of a mountain climb, in a thunderstorm while riding on a BICYCLE, I can certainly understand your fear. But alas there was little I could do besides continuing my descent down or seek shelter under a tree. In Colorado thunderstorms and lightning are very common problems during the summer months. Fortunately most of the thunderstorms are quite small and easily avoided or can be waited out.

 

Greg

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

The two main things that scare me while riding are deer and lightning. I'm afraid lightning detectors may be as effective as deer whistles.

 

Those are good things to be scared of. But unfortunately I think you're right about lightning detectors. Or at least about how useful they are. The guideline I've repeatedly heard is that if you see lightning anywhere in the sky, you're in danger; the touchdown point of lightning doesn't become certain until the developing electrical pathway gets to within about 100 feet of the ground, so it can cover surprisingly large horizontal distances before connecting to earth, and it can connect with surprisingly short objects (such as a motorcycle rider) within close proximity to taller objects.

 

That being the case, IMHO a lightning detector is kind of redundant, unless you're really curious about over-the-horizon strikes.

 

For more info on lightning safety, check with the National Lightning Safety Institute.

[NoHeat]

A thought on what you might call last-second lightning-detection, from the NOAA

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/thunder.pdf

 

"If you feel your skin tingle or your hair stand on end, squat low to the ground on the balls of your feet. Place your hands on your knees with your head between them. Make yourself the smallest target possible, and minimize your contact with the ground."

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

A thought on what you might call last-second lightning-detection, from the NOAA

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/thunder.pdf

 

"If you feel your skin tingle or your hair stand on end...

 

I saw a news show several years ago that described a group of hikers who were experiencing this exact thing. They thought it was pretty neat, and took a few pics of each other with their hair standing up. Shortly after that a lightning strike killed a number of them.

 

Back in 2000 my girlfriend and I were riding back from CA on the RT. At the highest point of Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain NP, we parked and took a 1/4-mile hike across the tundra. The trail climbed up from the parking lot for maybe 40-50 vertical feet, then we crossed a long flat to reach a pile of very large rocks; we scrambled to the top of the rocks, making ourselves the highest objects for maybe a 25-mile radius. Skies were darkly cloudy and windy. While taking pics my girlfriend was complaining that her hair wouldn't behave (short/stiff hair, so it didn't really stand up, but you can see in the pics that it was unusually fluffed up). After a few shots she climbed down off the rock; as I climbed down after her, I felt my hair CRACKLING. That's when I put it all together (highest objects, dark/cloudy skies, fluffy/crackling hair) and suddenly I was in fear for our lives. But what to do? Walk that 1/4 mile across the flat tundra to get back to the lot, or hunker down next to that big rock? We chose to jog down the trail (jogging is difficult at 12K feet!); the trail was marked with 8-foot high snowsticks, each of which was crackling as we passed. Talk about adrenalin. We made it down without incident, but ohmygod was I scared for a while. Sheesh.

[WestTX RT]

Garmin 376c with XMWeather seems to portray ground strikes quite well

 

Unfortunately the Zumo I've got doesn't support any of the radar packages, yet. I don't know if that's in the plans for the future. My understanding of some of the handhelds schools use for sporting events are pretty accurate.

[Bill_Walker]

Back in 2000 my girlfriend and I were riding back from CA on the RT. At the highest point of Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain NP, ...

 

Wow, Mitch! That was a close one!

 

A motorcyclist was killed by lightning there while riding in Cycle World's ride to Milwaukee for H-Ds 100th anniversary bash.