Let me start off by saying I'm a storm chaser with about 20 years experience. My observations below are based not only on long term experience, but on current conditions I'm seeing in my area, and hearing about elsewhere.
I just came off a brief hike in my local park. This year is a bit of an odd one overall in the Northeastern US, and it's creating a dangerous situation that has already killed a few people out on the trails.
As has been discussed here on the forum recently, trees like to drop limbs during times of drought, which a huge portion of the country is now experiencing. From central NY, all the way west to the foothills of the Rockies, and south to TN/NC/MO, everybody is dry. That's already a recipe for some ugly and unexpected widow makers, but there's a much bigger overall threat at work.
Here in the Northeast, we had one of the easiest winters on record. Warm, calm, and wet but very very little snow, and few really wicked storms. This left a *lot* of marginal trees that would have been knocked down or lost a lot of limbs standing untouched. Couple that with a quiet spring and summer with few thunderstorms, and the very dry conditions, and things are ripe for disaster.
Winds here this afternoon barely cracked 50mph, which normally would pull down small to medium sized healthy limbs, large dead limbs, and lots of leaves off trees. You'd normally get a few uprooted trees, but they'd usually be particularly shallow rooted individuals.
Instead, what we got was hundreds of downed trees throughout the park. I counted 65 in less than 1/2 mile on one trail, out of more than 12 miles of trails in the park. The entire region has thousands and thousands of trees down from what was really a pretty mundane round of thunderstorms.
Given the conditions out there right now, you absolutely MUST carry a weather radio or some means of getting weather warnings on the trail. It really is a no-brainer. If you get caught out in a surprise thunderstorm, there may not be any readily available shelter from falling limbs and trees. That exact situation already killed a few folks in the Smokies earlier this month. I don't want to see any obituaries here on HF.
If you do get caught in a thunderstorm, here are some lessons for staying safe and getting out of harm's way.
1) DO NOT trust small structures like picnic shelters if they're surrounded by large trees. An absolutely enormous 120'x60' shelter here was completely flattened by a falling sycamore today. They may stop limbs, but not full grown trees. If this is your only option, under a sturdy picnic table is about a best case, but it's still risky. This goes for trail shelters as well, though these frequently have a pretty good stand-off distance to the trees for this exact reason.
2) DO seek large rock structures, rock overhangs, boulders, etc. If a tree falls, you want something that might be able to hold it up or deflect it away from you. Same logic applies to seeking shelter in a tornado in your basement. Big solid objects are your friend.
3) DO remember that most thunderstorm winds are linear. Straight line in one direction. If you have to face a storm out in the woods with no shelter, find a field. Move to the leeward side of the field (so the storm is coming at you across the open field. Stay in the field, out of the tree line, and lay flat. This will remove the lightning threat of being in the open, and any trees that fall should fall away from you.
4) DO utilize steep sided ravines, canyons, culverts, or bridges for shelter in a wind storm, but be extremely cognizant of the potential flash flood threat. In most thunderstorms, the worst of the wind is going to come on the front end of the precipitation, so you may be able to shelter from the wind threat in an area water is going to run, and exit the area before the water starts to rise, but this should be an absolute last resort, and you should only do it if you can see an easy exit nearby.
5) If you're in a populated area, be on the lookout for downed power lines mixed in among the trees. At least 3 people were killed after the OH/WV Derecho event June 29th by downed power lines after the storm was gone. It happens way too often.
6) The threat of window makers or delayed falls is MUCH higher after a severe wind event. If you see tree damage in your immediate vicinity, get out of the trees and stay out. It could take several days for the woods to 'stabilize' and for the hanging debris to shake itself free and drop. I was in the woods about 5 hours after the worst of the wind today, and I could still hear limbs dropping all around me with every little puff of breeze.
Be safe out there!
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Originally Posted by Bubba
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