clouds and lightning

[Layton 0]

ok my wife has made this comment to me since i started skydiving.stay out of the clouds because you will get struck by lightning.could this actually happen?

[Bosveld 0]

I don't know how it works in other countries, but in SA we have a lot of clear sunny days. We never jump in stormy, rainy weather. If there's lightning in the air, we would stop jumping long before it ever gets close to the drop zone.

Normal white "fluffy" clouds has no danger of lightning whatsoever, so no danger there. It's the dark rainy clouds that needs to be watched out for.

It's all up to you any ways, if the weather looks dark and rainy with lightning, it's your choice to go up or not, even if there were crazy pipes that were jumping.
Same thing for strong wind or anything that could be hazardous.

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, will be true!

[ChrisL 2]

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If there's lightning in the air, we would stop jumping long before it ever gets close to the drop zone.

Never jumped shortly after a thunderstorm passed by?
In point of fact, lightning can strike from as far as 10 miles away

Never heard of a jumper being struck though.
I dont think there is enough mass to attract the current to a non-grounded object.

I'd say that anything is possible but it highly improbable.

__

My mighty steed

[cvfd1399 0]

Read the latest issue of "Parachutist" it has a whole article on weather and lightning.

[piisfish 140]

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Never heard of a jumper being struck though....
I'd say that anything is possible but it highly improbable.

Skydivers are faster than lightning... Well... at least freeflyers are

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Layton 0]

ok let me clarify this im talking about the big white puffy clouds that we ooh and ahh at on the way to altitude.

[BASE813 0]

get her to read understanding the sky............

[JohnMitchell 16]

Airplanes get struck by lightning in flight. Of course, people get struck on the ground. There is no reason why a skydiver couldn't be hit by lightning in freefall or under canopy. Thunderstorms are the most hazardous weather in aviation, and you should steer clear, not just for the lightning, but because of strong ground winds and turbulence.

[marcandalysse 0]

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read understanding the sky

I just checked out our local library, they don't have the book....looked it up on amazon.com, the author wrote a lot of books about hang gliding and ultralights...hmmm...

Anyone else have suggestions for good books about weather??

marc

"The reason angels can fly is that they take themselves so lightly." --GK Chesterton

[PhillyKev 0]

If you're in the air, you aren't grounded, so the lightening might hit you, but the current isn't going to pass through your body. Nothing bad happens to planes when they get hit.

[FrogNog 1]

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ok let me clarify this im talking about the big white puffy clouds that we ooh and ahh at on the way to altitude.

I wouldn't worry about cumulus clouds like that. They're mostly just visible moisture and not much movement.

When the clouds are more anvil shaped and forming by thrusting up into the sky, especially if there is enough wind that they're leaning over from bottom to top, that's typically not cumulus anymore, I believe that's cumulonimbus. These are bad, and not just because the movement of the particles inside can cause lightning. They also have nasty drafts, and I fear these storm clouds' winds much more than I fear their lightning.

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Pull.

[FrogNog 1]

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If you're in the air, you aren't grounded, so the lightening might hit you, but the current isn't going to pass through your body. Nothing bad happens to planes when they get hit.

I think the concern about skydivers being in the air with lightning is the heat. Nylon melts easily, and when it's wet it can be a sufficiently good conductor that it could entice a lightning groundstrike to pass right next to your webbing.

So it's not death by frying in this theory, it's death by harness failure.

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Pull.

[BASE813 0]

check out some paragliding / gliding clubs as they seem to have copies available............

this book is well known in the BASE scene as a must read................

[billvon 3,031]

> If you're in the air, you aren't grounded, so the lightening might hit you,
>but the current isn't going to pass through your body.

Where else might it go? Getting hit by lightning would incinerate you.

>Nothing bad happens to planes when they get hit.

Here's one example of a lightning strike, here's another. Over the years half a dozen aircraft have been brought down by lightning.

[PhillyKev 0]

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Over the years half a dozen aircraft have been brought down by lightning.

"Estimates show that each commercial airliner averages one lighting hit per year but the last crash that was attributed to lightning was in 1967 when the fuel tank exploded, causing the plane to crash."

http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae568.cfm

[Fab 0]

reply]If you're in the air, you aren't grounded, so the lightening might hit you, but the current isn't going to pass through your body. Nothing bad happens to planes when they get hit.

[JohnMitchell 16]

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If you're in the air, you aren't grounded, so the lightening might hit you, but the current isn't going to pass through your body. Nothing bad happens to planes when they get hit.

A lot of planes take lightning strikes and do receive damage, from minor to major. They are now designed to conduct lightning thru the body with as little damage as possible. This is an area of major concern on composite aircraft that don't conduct well. Electricity takes the path of least resistance. Your body conducts electricity much better than air. If a lightning bolt hits you, it's very likely the current will choose to flow through your body as opposed to the much higher ressistance air. A curious fact, is that many lightning strike victims, being soaking wet from the rain at the time of getting hit, escape serious injury but end up naked. The lightning takes the path of least resistance, the water on their skin. This explosively vaporizes the water and blows their clothes off. I swear I've read about this, too weird to make up. So I guess you can jump in lightning, just make sure you're wet first. And really tighten down the leg straps.

[PhillyKev 0]

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The discharge is then flowing through you (to the ground for instance). I'm pretty sure you won't like the experience.

Good point. Personally, I wouldn't jump around storm clouds for fear of updrafts. I wouldn't be too worried about lightning.

[riddler 0]

Lightning more frequently happens inside clouds than going from a cloud to the ground. There are great potential differences from say the top of a cloud to the bottom, or from one end to the other. If the potential difference is great enough to overcome the resistance of a path between them, the discharge will happen from point A to B, regardless if point B is on the ground, or in the air, or even if it's you.

Any lightning strike on your body is dangerous - don't listen to people that try to explain it like you are some node on a power grid and whether or not you are electrically neutral. Your body and tissues form complex organism with a lot of potential electrical paths.

The voltage by itself is dangerous - high voltages can actually cause shear, which in high doses will literally tear limbs from your body. But more dangerous is the current. Currents as little as 1/10th of an amp can be fatal, depending on the path they take through your body. The path from your left hand to your right foot has nerve pathways that go right by your heart. Currents starting at 1 amp can set your skin on fire.

Point is, lightning is dangerous
As far as jumping through clouds, I don't think it's a big problem. Most of the clouds I've, errr, heard of other people accidently jumping through were maybe a few thousand feet. Clouds that form a lot of lightning tend to be much bigger, and I understand that it's rare for jumpers to jump through them.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[crwmike 0]

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ok my wife has made this comment to me since i started skydiving.stay out of the clouds because you will get struck by lightning.could this actually happen?

I saw some clouds being struck by Lightnings just last weekend.
Michael

[crwmike 0]

[replyWhere else might it go? Getting hit by lightning would incinerate you..

[maxmadmax 8]

hmmmm....if I'm going to be hit by lighting I might as well take along some popcorn!

Don't go away mad....just go away!