Discontinue fishing, water skiing, tubing, swimming or other water activities when there is lightning or even when weather conditions look threatening.Don't be a "stand-up human" lightning mast! If no enclosure (cabin) is available, stay low in the boat. Stay in the center of the cabin if the boat is so designed.If you can’t get off the water soon enough, it is critical to take safety precautions to protect the people in your boat: That thunder was caused by lightning 25 seconds earlier (The sound of thunder travels at one mile per five seconds). Seldom will you hear thunder more than five miles from its source. You may hear the thunder before you can see the lightning on a bright day. As the clouds become darker and more anvil-shaped, the thunderstorm is already in progress. Once they reach 30,000 feet, the thunderstorm is generally developing. Watch for the development of large well-defined rising cumulus clouds.Small, local storms might not be reported, so it is important that boaters learn to read the weather: Never go boating without knowing the forecast. Sign Up for Notifications (NOAA).Have an adequate lightning protection system installed and have it inspected regularly. About Lightning Protection Systems ().Preferably stay off and definitely get off, the water whenever weather conditions are threatening.You might be that "better path." Minimize Lightning Strike Damage A side flash occurs when the electrical charge jumps from one component to another seeking a better path to ground. You don’t have to be in contact with the components of the boat struck by lightning there could be side flashes. In all four examples, you could be seriously injured. The electrical charge passes through the rod, your body, then to the boat to the water. Sitting in your aluminum or fiberglass rowboat, you are holding a graphite fishing rod (a good electrical conductor) that gets struck by lightning.While operating a motorboat, the lightning strikes you, passes through your body to the motor and then to the water.The electrical current follows the mast or wire rope to your hands, through your body to the wet surface and then through the hull to the water. Lightning strikes the mast of your sailboat.Your body may then become the best conductor for the electrical charge. Your feet are on a wet surface, which is in contact with metal which extends through the hull of the boat to the water. Your hand is on the radio, or on metal connected to the radio. The metal antenna carries the electrical charge to the radio, which does not have a good conductor to the water. Lightning strikes the ungrounded radio antenna on your boat. ![]() Once it strikes the boat, the electrical charge is going to take the most direct route to the water where the electrical charge will dissipate in all directions. On a body of water, that highest object is a boat. When lightning strikes, it will most often strike the highest object in the immediate area. Lightning is a flow of current from negative to positive in most cases and may move from the bottom to the top of a cloud, from cloud to cloud, or from cloud to ground. If boating, stay low and avoid contact with the water. Get out of the water if you are swimming or boating and get away from it. If you are caught outdoors when a lightning storm strikes, take shelter inside a building or car and close the windows and doors. Lightning strikes sometimes occur with little or no warning, which is especially hazardous for boaters and anglers out on the water. Late spring and summer is the peak season for lightning strikes across Ohio. Fall 2022 DNAP eNews - Prairie Restoration.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |