Before I came to New Mexico I read that more people are killed by lightening in this state than in any other. A sobering thought, so when we arrived, I read up on lightening safety. http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/emergency/weather/lightning/
As you expect, the best way to be safe is to avoid being outside in a lightening storm. In late August and September the weather cools down to a reasonable temperature, and this is the best time to explore the outdoors. However these months are also known as the "monsoon season" because there are frequent late afternoon showers, often accompanied by stiff winds and lots of lightening. And these storms come up quickly. The weather can go from fair to foul in just a few minutes.
Not long after we arrived, we got caught in one of these squalls while walking home from the store one evening and it's scary stuff. The storms follow the same pattern. The thunder cracks loudly then rolls and rolls and, as the storm increases in intensity, the rain comes in big drops and the time between seeing the lightening flash and hearing the thunder it produces decreases until you are sure that the lightening is right above your head. That's when you start running for your car or your home praying that you make it without getting skewered by a bolt of lightening and toasted like a marshmallow.
Yesterday, we went on a hike with our outdoorsy friend, Irene. She had signed up as a volunteer with the U.S. Forest System to help survey a segment of one of the local trails in the Sandia Mountains. She had checked out an expensive GPS hand-held device loaded with software to log where you are, the type of use the area is getting, and even to take photos. The data is sent directly to the USFS database, so it's a pretty slick way to monitor trail use.
We wanted to go with her and we all agreed to leave at 9:00 am. However, there seemed to be no rush. Irene was in the middle of having her front porch paved, the weather was beautiful - not too hot - so a later leave time seemed fine. As a result, we didn't actually get to the trail until 11:30 a.m.
This was the first time that Irene had used this data gathering system and there was a steep learning curve. The going was very slow the first 0.8 miles up to the place where the trail sign showed we had reached the Upper Faulty Trail, the part we were to survey. It took nearly 2 hours to reach it because we wanted to be sure we could use the GPS system, and we practiced by logging every man, woman, child, and dog we 'encountered' along the trail.
Finally, we got to the trail we were actually supposed to monitor. There was a very steep climb along a ridge which lead to a heavily forested area with a lot of downed branches littering the forest floor. Everything looked very dry. We were supposed to log any camp sites we found in this area, but we agreed it would be foolish to have a fire with all forest debris to act as kindling.
As we walked, Irene looked up to see some very dark clouds ahead. We were so close to finishing the assigned area that we decided to push forward.
Turns out that we were also pushing our luck. We began to hear the rolling thunder off in the distance and those dark clouds were getting closer. Within a few minutes, the thunder claps were close enough together that we knew it was time to turn around.
Because the trail eventually led to Sandia Crest, our trip so far had been almost all uphill. Turning around, we faced a downhill run. And I do mean run! We picked up our pace hoping to outrace the storm.
What a futile effort that turned out to be. It began to rain, slowly at first, but soon the big drops were falling quickly and the trail became wet and muddy. Meanwhile the thunder increased in frequency and intensity. We reached the ridge we had just come up and we were completely exposed. The trail was steep with lots of scrabble under our feet. It was easy to slip, so we had to slow down.
Then we were back into the lower, forested area. That would have felt safer but the time between seeing a lightening flash and hearing the thunder was becoming much shorter. There was a bright flash just above us and to our right. At nearly the same instant we heard a loud crack of thunder. The rain was coming down hard. We had put on jackets, but our pants and shoes were soaked as we ran breathlessly along the trail.
As I ran, I realized that both of my hands were tingling. It felt like the pins and needles sensation when a part of your body is waking up after 'going to sleep.' It was strong, and I decided that it was definitely not my imagination!! Was I having a heart attack, I wondered, or was I feeling the electricity in the air all around me? I remembered the safety tips I had read:
If your skin tingles or your hair stands on the end, a lightning strike may be about to happen. Crouch down on the balls of your feet with your feet close together. Keep your hands on your knees and lower your head. Get as low as possible without touching your hands or knees to the ground. DO NOT LIE DOWN!
No way was I going to just stand there! I took off my pack and held it out to one side as I ran just in case the metal in the umbrella that was inside it would attract lightening, and I ran... ran as fast as my legs, now getting wobbly with fatigue, would carry me. Irene, who is in much better physical shape than either me or Lee had pulled ahead of us, but Lee was close behind me.
Soon the worst of that short storm passed. The lightening and thunder decreased and sounded farther away, and the sun had even come out again by the time we reached the car.
What an adventure! It had taken us about 2 and a half hours to get to the place where we decided to turn around, but it only took 30 minutes to get back to our car!! We were all happy to be together and OK.
Comparing notes, Lee told me that at the time my hands were tingling, so were his!! Irene said she didn't feel it, but we wondered if she was far enough ahead of us to be out of the electric field we were feeling. Anyway, we all agreed that next time we would get an earlier start. Now, however, it was time for hot showers and a cold pitcher of Margaritas!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment