Thunder-storm diving?

[ScubaJorgen]

I wonder what to do what to do when a thunder-storm occurs at the dive site just prior to a dive.

My questions:
- Is it safe to dive during a thunder-storm?

- Does it matter if you're diving in salt water (conductive) or fresh water (less conductive) during a thunder-storm?

- Did anybody experience lightning strikes under water? (if no one responds to this question I definitely wouldn't go diving during thunder-storms )

Some thoughts :grad:
When lightning strikes a large amount of charge is transferred to the earth. From the point of impact this charge flows in all directions (current) through the environment. If the diver is part of the environment a certain amount of charge will flow through him. It is this current which could harm the diver :angel:. The question is how much current flows through the diver?

 

[Rick Murchison]

Here in the Southeast this is a common problem. Based strictly on experience with lightning fatalities - none of them to scuba divers to my knowledge - we believe that the safest place to be in a thunderstorm is indoors. If you can't get indoors, the inside of a vehicle is next best. If you can't get inside a vehicle, it's better to be under water than in the open, but the absolute worst place of all that you can be is in the water and on the surface. [with the possible exception of being on a golf course with metal clubs]
Rick

 

[tchil01]

One of the dive magazines talked about this recently. I'm not sure which one but I will try to see if I have it around. I believe that the electricity from a strike stays mostly on the surface and disapated in a couple of hundred feet or so. They said that it shouldn't effect a diver unless they were directly under a strike at a shallow depth. However, with all of that, I don't think I would want to test it out.

Ty

 

[jbd]

there was a thread about this last year. I think there were some real experiences. I was diving last year when a sudden storm came through. Another board memeber was with me--ckharlan66. No lightening strikes but we could see the flashes.

 

[pipedope]

Diving in a thunderstorm is NOT Safe.

While you are at only a slight risk at depth, you are at great risk at the surface.
You can control when you get into the water but there is very little choice as to when you surface at the end of a dive. It is also hard to know if the lightning is striking close by until you are at the surface and then it is too late.

Salt water is less dangerous than fresh water as the charge is conducted away faster and over less distance.

It is also much easier to properly protect a boat in slat water. Getting a good ground in fresh water is very difficult so the risk of serious damage to the boat is very high in fresh water.
Lots of boats have been sunk by the holes blown through the hull by a lightning strike.

If you can see the lightning bolt or hear the thunder then the storm is too close for safety.
On a boat the place to be is inside, as far from the waterline and metal objects as possible.

Trust me, you DON'T want to get hit by lightning.

michael

 

[MikeS]

I have study lightning to protect satellite earth terminals from it. If you think a golf club is a good lightning attractor, imagine a 30-meter aluminum dish.

Lighting is caused by a difference in voltage potential typically caused by air masses of different temperature colliding (the same way static is generated). The atmosphere acquires a voltage potential different from the ground, when the difference becomes sufficient to overcome the resistance between the two potentials, lightning results. What we see is electrical energy converted to light energy.

With a few exceptions, such as heat lightning, lightning goes from the ground up and the atmosphere down, meeting somewhere in the middle, where we see the light. Lightning always follows the path of least resistance. It damages people or structures when they are in, or near, the path of least resistance. Some of the electrical current passing through the body or object is converted to heat and burns result. That's how fires are started by lightning It can also play havoc with the body’s electrical system such as the impulses that cause the heart to beat.

So in theory, and I am not volunteering to test this, as long as you stay completely submerged you are OK. If part of you is above the surface, since you have less resistance than air, you potentially become the path of least resistance. Additionally, metal air tanks are very good conductors and if the current from a lightning strike passed through a tank it would get very hot very fast, not a good thing!

The most dangerous time would be getting in and out of the water or being in a boat that was not grounded. As pipe dope pointed out the best way to protect a boat or any structure is to ground it. The best way to protect yourself is to be under a well-grounded structure that is taller than you.

 

[SaltyWhale]

Diving with the presence of lightning is surely not advisable.

Most of all if you are at the surface and your head is the highest point around that vicinity. This makes a good lightning target.

 

[ebbtide]

3000 lb BomB on yer back !
and ya wanna go into a lightning storm !
seening that a alum 80 full, 3000 lbs will
park a fire truck on top of a 3 storie apartment buildning , i dont think mutch on diving in a storm for myself. but imagine what would happen if it blew underwater. as a kid we used to make small bombs made out of a small glass jar vinagar and bakeing soda and send it to bottem to watch the bubbles come up and dip up the fish that were killed from the cuncusion in about a 10 ft aera hummm , dont try it folkes !

 

[sharpenu]

Here in the lightning capital of the world, I have been diving under thunderstorms in the past. (Never on purpose) They tend to appear over the Gulfstream rather quickly. Once (according to the boat captain) we even had a waterspout pass over. I wouldn't advise diving under them on purpose, as they kick the seas up as well. If one happens to pass over, I wouldn't worry about it. (Can't be helped anyway?)