We’re pleased to offer the third in the three part series on Lightning and Lightning Safety for Fishermen from Bozeman’s Dwight Short.  See Part 1 and Part 2 if you’ve missed them over the past few days. 

Lightning and Lightning Safety for Fishermen (Part 3)

If a lone fisherman is struck by lightning, there is not much medically that can be done, of course. The fate of the individual is sealed at the moment of the strike. Fortunately, the statistics are in the person’s favor and he is most likely to survive. He should get to or be taken to a medical facility as soon as possible to be examined and treated for any complications, however.

As mentioned above, the main safety action for a group of fishermen caught out in a thunderstorm is to put down the rods and then separate by as much distance as possible. This minimizes the chance that all of the individuals will be struck. If during the storm some members are injured, time is critical in administering aid. As opposed to the routine triage rule that intensive medical attention should be given to the living or those most likely to survive and limited care  given to the dead or unconscious, after a lightning strike involving several persons the intensive and immediate care should be given to the victims who are unconscious or thought to be dead.  They may have sustained damage to the heart or cerebral respiratory centers that can be reversed by giving immediate aggressive and sustained life support resuscitation.  An old wives tale has victims of a strike retaining electrical charge and are therefore unsafe to approach. That is not true. Those victims showing signs of life after a strike will in all probability recover, although they may have injuries that will need to be treated later. All victims should have cervical spine precautions observed as they may have been thrown violently by the strike.

In past times the thought was that if a person survived a lightning strike, there were not likely to be any long term effects. However, as data collection has become more sophisticated it has been found that many lightning strike survivors do indeed have some degree of physical or mental impairment. The list is a long one, but the most common are-    cardiac damage
     amnesia
     brain damage
     numbness and weakness
     Parkinsonian Syndrome
     cataracts
     deafness
     fatigue
     sleep disorders
     concentration problems

[Mark here – OMG, I’ve got all those symptoms....]

Any lightning strike survivor should seek medical attention as soon as possible in an effort to minimize physical or mental damage. They should also consult with mental health professionals, physical therapists and occupational therapists in an attempt to correct or lessen the long term effects. An excellent source of information and support for both lightning strike survivors and their families is the Lightning Strike and Electrical Shock Survivors International, Inc. located in Jacksonville, NC.

In summary, as with all dangerous situations, the best way to handle thunderstorms and lightning is to avoid them by careful planning and thought. In the case of thunderstorms and fishermen, avoidance may not be always possible. Every fisherman, therefore, should have knowledge of thunderstorms and lightning strikes and be aware of ways to best protect themselves. In the case of a lightning strike on people, the best course is to institute immediate and intensive resuscitation techniques. Ideally, every fisherman should know the method of basic life support. If you don’t, consider signing up for a class. A basic first aid kit should be on hand to handle open injuries such as often occurs in skin. Lightning strike survivors are likely to have some degree of residual effects. These should be addressed by medical professionals to minimize their effects.

Bibliography-
1) Medical News Today-www.medicalnewstoday.com
2) National Weather Service-www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov
3) Seminars in Neurology,vol.15,no.4 ,December 1995
4) Science@NASA-http://science.nasa.gov
5) Journal of Family Practice, September 1989
6) The Human Effects of Lightning Strikes and Recommendations for Storm Chasers-www.harkphoto.com/light
7) Lightning Strike and Electrical Shock Survivors International, Inc.-www.lightning-strike.org

Tags: Skills

We’re pleased to offer the second in the three part series on Lightning and Lightning Safety for Fishermen from Bozeman’s Dwight Short.  Here’s a link to Part 1 if you missed it yesterday. 

Lightning and Lightning Safety for Fishermen (Part 2)

Safety in a thunderstorm obviously best begins by avoiding the storm entirely. Weather reports may indicate with high probability that a thunderstorm will develop in a certain area and activities should be adjusted to stay out of the region in question. More often, however, thunderstorms develop without a lot of advance warning and that is where certain actions need to be taken to stay as safe as possible.

In case of a thunderstorm, a cardinal rule called the 30/30 rule needs to be put into play at once. If the time between the lightning flash and its resulting thunder is 30 seconds or less (indicating that the thunderstorm is six miles or less away) safety measures to be discussed below should be instituted immediately as distant lightning strikes are a possibility. Resumption of activities should not take place until 30 minutes after the last flash. This is because the trailing storm clouds may still carry enough lingering charge to create lightning. Studies of lightning strikes show that most people are struck at the beginning and end of a storm. The one limitation of this rule is the situation in which the fisherman is in a deep, high sided valley which severely limits seeing an oncoming storm. The first hint of a storm may be a clap of thunder and for safety’s sake the fisherman should assume that the storm is right up on him and take immediate action.

If at all possible, fishermen should try to reach safe shelter in advance of the storm. Examples include hardtop vehicles and homes.

However, many times fishermen are out away from safe shelter and other forms of safety measures should be employed. If wading or fishing from the bank, moving away from the water is the first step and then the fishing rod should be placed flat on the ground. If there are nearby trees, moving into the area of the shortest trees or brush may give some shelter. If no shelter is felt to be safe, the idea is to make yourself the smallest structure in the vicinity. Often, a ditch or depression can be found to get into. No matter where you decide to ride out the storm, the Lightning Crouch should be used to minimize the risk. This position consists of crouching down on the balls of the feet, placing the hands on the forehead and the elbows on the knees. This creates the smallest amount of contact with the ground and is felt to create a safer path for an electrical charge through the body should you be struck. The previous advice of lying flat on the ground has proven to be dangerous and should not ne followed. Fishermen in groups should separate by at least a hundred feet to minimize the number of fishermen who might be involved in a lightning strike. Fishing rods should be placed flat on the ground away from the fishermen.

If in a drift boat, several maneuvers can be used depending on the circumstances. If a bridge is close by, the fishermen should seek shelter under it, but avoid contact with any of the structure. With many homes being built close to the river, it may be feasible to leave the boat and seek shelter under a porch. If nothing else, anchor the boat away from nearby trees with the fishermen sitting on the bottom of the boat. Fly rods should, of course, be placed flat in the boat. 

[Mark - today's pic is via the Field and Stream blog, and yes, that's a graphite rod that took a lightning strike.  Tomorrow we'll post the final installment in Dwight's series on Fly Fishing and Lightning Safety.]

Tags: Skills

One of the things we’re most looking forward to is sharing with our readers the knowledge, expertise, wisdom, and general good chi of genuine smart / experienced / good looking folks who have something to share that will improve your fly fishing (and general life) experience.  

It is our intent to offer these good folks yet another platform here on Chi Wulff to share their bounty with the rest of us (suggestions for guest posts and topics are most welcome). 

The first of these special features covers a topic that is both timely (our first thunderstorms of the season are forecast for the next few days) and poorly understood by most fly fisherfolk we’ve observed over the years – Lightning and Lightning Safety for Fishermen.  

The author of this well researched and written three-part series is a new friend we’ve met right here in Bozeman – Dwight Short.  Here’s what Dwight offered when we asked to tell a bit about himself -

I’m a retired radiology and nuclear medicine physician who moved to Bozeman from Kentucky 10 years ago.  My goal was to live and fly fish in a wonderful environment with family and good friends. I have been blessed beyond measure with success in this quest.  I am also blessed to have been able to start my grandsons on a life long journey of fly fishing and fly tying.

Lightning and Lightning Safety for Fishermen (Part 1)

After being caught out in several severe thunderstorms over the past few years and not really knowing what to do to ensure my safety, I decided to do some research on lightning and lightning safety.  The statistics are sobering.  From 1959 to 1994 the National Weather Service recorded 3,239 deaths from lightning strikes and 9,818 injuries. Due to the vagaries of data collection, these figures most likely represent underreporting of the situation.  Most of the people involved in lightning strikes are engaged in outdoor activities: ball players, hikers, golfers, hunters and fishermen. In large part, I am going to address the issue as it pertains to fishermen, but many of the principles are applicable to everyone.

There are many sources of information available on the internet and I have cited the ones that I used at the end of this paper. I did not give them direct attribution within the article, however. As with most scientific articles about our natural world, there are some differences in opinion about some of the topics, but overall the information was remarkable consistent. I would encourage anyone interested in this subject to look at the web sites. They are well done with more detailed information and graphs and are easy to navigate.  I want to thank Dave Corcoran of Dave Corcoran Outfitters in Bozeman, MT, for his valuable information and advice in the writing of the on- water safety portion of the article. I am also grateful to Bill Vance of Bozeman, MT, for his review of this article and  giving some very wise suggestions.

To begin, what is lightning? The simple definition is that lightning is a gigantic spark of static electricity, similar to, but much larger that the spark created when a person walks across the floor and reaches for a door knob. How lightning forms is not totally known. The leading theory focuses around separation of electrical charges and formation of an electrical field within a thunderstorm. Recent studies indicate that ice, hail and semi-frozen water drops (graupel) are essential elements of lightning development. Thunderstorms are very turbulent environments in which there are strong upward and downward air currents. These currents transport ice, hail and water and the resulting friction between the substances creates electrical charges within clouds. Positive charges are located in the upper portion of the clouds and negative charges are in the lower portion. Because the atmosphere is such a good insulator, 75% or so of lightning in a storm occurs within the cloud itself.

Most of the remaining lightning that strikes the ground is so called negative lightning. A moving thunderstorm gathers a pool of positive charges that move on the ground along with it. As differences in charge continue to increase, the positive charges rise up taller objects such as trees, telephone and power poles, buildings and mountains. When the positive and negative charges become strong enough, lightning bolts develop between the lower portion of the cloud and the ground. Taller objects are usually struck because there is less atmospheric insulation between them and the cloud. However, what is struck depends on where the positive charges accumulate. Lightning may strike the ground even if there are tall trees close by.

A less common form of lightning is called positive lightning. This is lightning that develops between the positive charges in the upper portion of the clouds and negative charges on the ground. Because this lightning must travel further to reach the ground, its electrical field is typically much stronger than of negative lightning. It may be as strong as 300,000amps and one billion volts. This type of lightning may strike ten or more miles from the thunderstorm. This is commonly known as a “bolt from out of the blue” because it often strikes before people on the ground are aware of a thunderstorm approaching them. While typically shooting from the front of an approaching storm, it may come from the sides or back.

Thunder is an acoustic shock wave caused by the extreme heated created by a lightning flash. Lightning may be as hot as 54,000 degrees F. This great heat expands air molecules creating a shock wave similar to a sonic boom. The speed of sound depends on air temperature, but a good workable average is 1000 feet/second or about 1 mile/5 seconds. Thunder can be heard up to ten miles or so.

Tomorrow Dwight offers practical lightning safety tips you can use today on the river…..

Tags: Skills