Re: Lightening Strikes Again
Alan Houser (troop24@EMF.NET)
Mon, 16 Aug 1999 12:26:25 -0700
George H. Fleming <gfleming2@HOME.COM> wrote (in part):
>Two of my Scouts took Weather and learned about the "ball" position. This
>is also described and shown on the USSCOUTS WEB page. This was the first I
>had heard about this. I had always thought that one should get as low as
>possible.
>When did this new procedure start and is it really better? It looks like
>one would be making himself more of a target.
We learned a variant of this at Philmont in 1993, except that one stood
with his behind in the air. The idea is based on lightning seeking the
shortest path to ground. If you were in this position and were struck
by lightning, it would travel directly to your feet without going through
either your head or your heart (major cause of death is heart stoppage).
There was one point along the trail between Cimmaroncito and Cypher's
Mine where we had a lightning strike very near by (less than a second
between flash and thunder -- sound travels at about 5 seconds per mile),
so we dropped our packs and assumed the position. Less than 2 minutes
later, another crew came walking by staring at us as if we were from
another planet. We wondered where they were when the lightning flashed.
YiS,
Alan R. Houser ** troop24@emf.net
** Scoutmaster, Troop 24, Berkeley, California **
** Committee Member, Crew 24, Berkeley, California **
** Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner, Herms District **
** WWW page ** http://www.emf.net/~troop24/t24.html **
