That was quite the electrical storm, wasn’t it?
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That was quite the electrical storm, wasn’t it?
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The epic storm of last Saturday, Aug. 22, is going down in the archive as the biggest electrical storm ever recorded in Vancouver. Unlike our usually tame summer sound and light shows, this one went on and on, with about 1,800 lightning strikes recorded in the Lower Mainland. The rest of the province was lashed with approximately 7,000 hits, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service. Some folks claimed they watched the sky light up for more than four hours. At YVR, flights sat on the tarmac for up to five hours, unable to depart in the midst of the storm. To say the storm was arresting is an understatement.
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What was also astonishing was the activity of the people in the street while the storm raged overhead. I watched a young man dashing from tree to tree, his path illuminated by welding-arc white light as he sought cover from what can only be described as torrential rain. A few others came outside to look up into the furious sky. I ventured out onto my sundeck to snap some shots.
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Sunrise
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Idiots. All of us. And me especially, as I’ve lived in Florida, which, along with Oklahoma, is the lightning-strike capital of North America. Here are just a few of the lessons I had forgotten since living in the danger zone.
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If you think there’s an electrical storm brewing, don’t wait to be proved right. In Florida, sirens sound to clear the playing fields and golf courses when dangerous conditions mount. The saying is, “When thunder roars, go indoors”. “A bolt from the blue” references the fact that lightning can strike from as far as 40 kilometres from what is called the “parent storm”. Ideally, you don’t venture out until a half-hour after the last clap of thunder.
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If you think you can take cover under a tree, you couldn’t be more wrong. Lightning seeks height. If you have no other option, you would be better off lying in a ditch. You can also get cooked lying on a concrete surface if it’s reinforced with metal rebar, so don’t lie on a concrete pad. Move away from chain link fences, don’t get in a golf cart, and do not try to get one last swing on the golf course — that club is a makeshift lightning rod if ever there was one. If you’re watching the spectacle from a covered veranda, that little roof offers scant protection.
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Don’t wash dishes during an electrical storm. Not in the dishwasher and not in the sink. In fact, don’t touch any appliances nor anything that has metal in it. Lightning will gleefully travel through metal plumbing. A standard household outlet carries about 15 to 20 amps. A bolt of lightning carries about 30,000 amps and 100 million volts, which is about what you’ would need if you were smelting aluminum. Lightning has you outgunned.
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Unplug your electronics. That includes your blowdryer and your toaster, as well as your laptop and cellphone. The electrical surge from a lightning strike can blow out anything that is plugged in.
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Canada sees about three lightning-related deaths each year, and about 180 complicated injuries. So far this year, there have been a dozen lightning-related deaths in the U.S., with that number expected to rise to between 20 and 40 deaths. Generally, lightning-strike victims tend to be males between the ages of 15 and 45, many of whom are struck while fishing or golfing. None of them, oddly, are struck while washing dishes.
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Jane Macdougall is a freelance writer and former National Post columnist who lives in Vancouver. She writes The Bookless Club every Saturday online and in The Vancouver Sun. For more of what Jane’s up to, check out her website, janemacdougall.com
