http://www.cleverscampcamp.com/camping-safety-2/
Camping safety question?
What should you do if you’re camping and are caught in a thunderstorm, with no chance of finding secure shelter?
***When the flash-to-crash is less than 30 seconds, take cover as I’ll describe in a sec. Remain like this for 30 minutes after the storm passes:
In a nutshell, GET LOW, MINIMIZE GROUND CONTACT, AND SPREAD YOUR GROUP OUT.***
**A lower area is safer than a higher one. Sit or squat as low as you can, while MINIMIZING THE AMOUNT OF YOUR BODY IN CONTACT WITH THE GROUND. Sit or squat on your foam sleeping pad or backpack- something that can act as insulation between you and the ground to prevent current travelling along the ground from reaching you. A group should be well spread out, as far as you can be while remaining in voice contact (so a strike won’t get everyone at once- scary, yeah). Don’t swim or wade during a thunderstorm (duh). Lightning can and will travel across the face of a cliff, especially if wet, and it CAN reach into caves. Not to mention it can explode rock, so just don’t use a cliff or cave as protection. Inside a vehicle (or building) is best. Under or on a vehicle is bad (duh again).**
Thats your basic info to answer your question. If you want more info:
Big, puffy clouds (cumulus) developing vertically can be an indicator of a thunderstorm developing. If you see these, have in mind an escape route or plan. Lightning strikes anywhere it wants to, not necessarily the highest object or the tallest point, and it can travel far distances, but your isolation and height can determine the liklihood of being struck. So get off of that bare mountaintop!
YOUR HAIR STANDS ON END WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. Other signs of lightning about to strike are small rocks jumping about, glowing air around metal objects, and the smell of ozone.
Because lightning, despite its massive power, is really brief in duration, the average discharge is actually too short for much of the electrical energy to overcome skin resistance and enter the body. As a result, less than 20% of lightning victims die of their injuries, because most of the current passes over the skin surface on its way to the ground. (Not all that reassuring, I know.) When a strike victim goes into cardio-pulmonary arrest (no heartbeat, not breathing) there is a very good chance of recovery by CPR. Other injuries may include burns, blunt and penetrating trauma (from objects being thrown about from the strike, which is essentially an explosion), and neurologic impairment.
So there’s me rambling, but essentially, when the gap between the flash and the boom is less than 30 seconds, spread out, get low, minimize ground contact.
Camping Safety