Thread: Lightning Rod

YIKES!
Did you know fishing is almost as 'lightning fatal' as all other water related recreational activities combined...

US National Weather Service Mobile Alabama

Did You Know - The #1 water related recreational activity for lightning fatalities is FISHING.
Tips for what to do if out on the water (or just outside in general) with no safe location nearby: NWS Lightning Safety Outdoors

Having spent several summers as a caddy, I can say first hand how fast those storms can come up on you with lightning way out in front. Saw a tree blown to bits on the 18th green by a lightning strike as we walked up the 18th fairway, rushing to finish the round as the thunder rumbled in the distance. I'm sure there were a few soiled pants that day by the players just leaving that green. On a pier or a beach, you just have no quick structure to get to.

Yep, there were a lot of "nervous Nellies" out on the end on Wednesday morning. We kept telling ourselves the storms were too far away to get us - but as the photo Steve Jones posted on FB shows..it was closer than we thought!

That is a cool pic! One in a million.
Though it appears at first glance lightning is striking the pier, upon closer inspection it is striking the water a few miles away.
Still too close!

To put all this in perspective, water related activities attribute to just over a third (36%) of average annual lightning fatalities.
Of those almost half (46%) are fishing related.



That averages out to more than 16% of annual lightning fatalities directly related to fishing!
Please don't be one of those!!!

Another interesting statistic is the huge drop in overall numbers of lightning fatalities in the U.S. over the past 70 years.
This despite the current population of the country at 2.3 times the size of the 1940 population (1940-2010: How Has America Changed?)

A lot to be said for lightening awareness education it would seem ;-)

Another thing to keep in mind is that we are in one of two 'bulls eyes' for lightening activity.
The National weather Service reports:

Did You Know - There are 20-25 million cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes each year in the US? Most CG lightning occurs across the entire state of Florida AND also near the I-10 corridor across southern Mississippi & Alabama.

National Weather Service says lightning can strike 15 miles from the main storm.

That's not counting the fact that a graphite fishing rod is pretty much the best conductor you could find as you do your lightning rod impression. Worst fishing lightning story I've heard were guys where the static in the air was so intense that their line suspended over the water.

[OK, the worst story (and true) was from a young woman I was in school with who did day-camp for kids in summer. When it thundered she took all the kids under a picnic shelter except one 10-year old boy who would not leave the metal frame with the chain cargo net. His last words to her were, "if it kills me, it kills me". She and the little kids she were supervising needed some help after witnessing what came next.]

I thought you were talking about my new "lightning" rod.