Hiking In Rain And Lightning Storms

The best way to deal with bad weather is to avoid it but sometimes it can occur so suddenly that there's no way you can escape it. Rain storms can get you soaked to the skin and the thunder may scare you.

You are also in danger of hypothermia when you're soaked. Learning to cope and shelter in this type of weather gives you the best chances for safety.

Heavy Rains

If the rain is heavy buy short you can dry your camping gear when the sun is out. Longer periods of rain is a different matter but weather like this usually occur during a specific time of the year. Guidebooks and the trail management agencies have information on the weather pattern or whether the trail experiences some unpredictable weather (especially in the mountains.)

For mountain, one side of it may experience good whether while the other can be very wet. Always be prepared to take a detour to a different trail in a attempt to find trails with drier conditions.

Extra gear is sometimes essential to cope with the wet weather. Your gear should be protected from being wet in a waterproof enclosure such as a plastic bag. Windbreakers can help in light drizzles of rain but not very useful in heavy rain. You would need a proper raincoat to cope with the torrential rain.

Extra warm layers is as important as shelters such as a tent. A bivvy or bivouac sack are great in unpredictable weather because they are fast to set up. Your tent should have a full flysheet protection. In this type of weather, pack your sleeping bag in a waterproof stuff sack.

A rain hat and waterproof map casings will prove to be useful in the rain. Also be sure to carry ready made meals that you can cook easily under the rainfly.

Lightning

Lightning storms are very common especially in the US. It is important that you are aware of the things you must not do in such a storm.

Lightning storms are especially dangerous on a mountain above a treeline where there is no shelter so you should be ready to quickly descend to a safer area where there is shelter.

A grove of trees can give you the best natural shelter against lightning. While the thicker the grove, the better the protection, you should at all cost refrain from sheltering under a lone tree even when the tree is not at all tall. These solitary trees are a good conductor for the lighting and are likely to be hit.

Also avoid shelter in shallow cave, depressions and ledges as they are prone to ground lightning. Wet areas also tend to attract lighting so avoid these too. Insulate yourself from the wet ground by sitting on your backpack.

If there is no way you can descend to lower area with protection and if the lightning is dangerously close, probably the best thing you can do is to crouch as low as possible on the ground. Try to minimize contact with the ground and use your arms to protect your head.