Diving in lightning storm

[HardWay]

Does anyone know how dangerous it is to be diving when a thunderstorm moves over the dive site? I assume it is not good, but pop up storms happen and if the divers are under when the storm moves in is it safer to stay down or surface and exit?

 

[Wolfie]

I have no idea. I'm sure someone does. As salt and fresh conduct differently I would assume the answer to vary?

 

[TMHeimer]

Nothing's good in lightning. I don't consider it.

 

[RonFrank]

If your UW its likely you will not know if there is lighting.

There are not a lot of facts....

Scientists know little about what happens when lightning hits water. The electrical current probably spreads in all directions, weakening as it spreads out. Since large numbers of dead fish aren't found after thunderstorms move across bodies of water, the current probably weakens in short distances.

Still, a diver who happens to be underwater when a lightning bolt hits nearby could become part of an unintended scientific experiment on just how quickly the current weakens.

Lightning and Diving

 

[Reallydg]

I've had three thunderstorms come up while diving. I try to stay down until we make it to the exit and then get up and out of the gear ASAP. I try to avoid the surface swim if possible. Something about that big lightening rod on my back that makes me a little nervous. I have no scientific backing that says this is the best choice. Just what I've decided to do.

 

[HardWay]

Thanks for the add about salt or fresh water. We were in a quarry last time a storm came up but I have also had it happen during a long dive in the Gulf.

 

[ajtoady]

Lightning has what they call a "skin" dispersion effect. In other words it tends to travel on the surface area of a conductor, whether it be a copper wire or water. If under stay as close to the bottom as you can and when exiting make it fast. However when it comes to lightning there are no 100% guarantee's.

 

[James Robertson]

well i sure wouldn't want to be diving with a giant lightning rod on my back in the middle of a body of water.

 

[FuzzyNutz]

A storm was brewing up once when we were getting ready for a night dive. Lightning looks freakin' AWESOME underwater at night!! It's all dark around you, then BAM, it's like someone starts flickering a light switch and you see your surroundings come and go in a flash. Very cool! Luckily the surface conditions weren't too bad by the time we surfaced.

I don't know about the answer to your question though... but I would guess it's best to hurry your ass back to shore! A lightning strike is so rare, I'd be more concerned about the boat still being there and making it back!

Totally unrelated, but is in the sense of natural occurrences and diving... I remember reading a story before where divers were in the water during one of those recent giant tsunamis that destroyed the entire city, and the divers had no clue anything ever happened. Imagine surfacing and finding armageddon! Yikes!! Now only if I can find out if divers experience anything during an earthquake...

 

[drrich2]

Here's a thread discussing the issue of lightning & diving, with a mention of a man struck & killed in waist deep water. In that thread, Drewski posted:

I have been in seawater less than 30 FT deep with multiple lightning strikes to a partially submerged rock jetty less than 20 YDS away. Loud as hell when I surfaced to see what all the flashes were then immediately headed back to the bottom. Not even a twitch.

Another thread, sparked (bad pun) by a diver surfacing & getting killed when lightning struck his tank. Molamola (different forum) posted:

I asked for lightning stories, and several people described being under as much as thirty feet of seawater when lightning hit, and they really felt it, like being hit by a car.

Another thread, where FireInMyBones posted:

Me and a buddy were at around 90' and the whole place lit up and my buddies hand went numb. His hand still tingles around storms.

Scanning these threads, there are a lot of variables, including the polarity of the lightning bolt (positive or negative; I hadn't known of such a thing).

Richard.