Thunder Storms

Yep -- they say that a vehicle becomes a "Faraday Cage," protecting you from lightning:

Vehicles as Faraday Cages

Been struck twice & had a couple cases of buzzing antennas & standing hair. No chance to do anything with the hits. First was inboard a 747 shortly after take off. Second was onboard a boat miles from shore. First buzzing experience was on a Swiss mountain top. We beat a hasty retreat to the lower visitor center. Second buzzing was onboard our boat one evening at anchor. Nothing to be done except watch the show & stay away from antennas. In the RV we stay put. Aluminum frame so maybe that will help.

Well, someone had the presence of mind to hit "record" -- the big hail arrives at the 43 second mark. Folks are caught out in the open as big hail happens:

Siberian summer hailstorm

caver wrote:
I was stopped for the night in Coldwater Lake, Kansas and they actually had a tornado shelter for the CG.

In my home state, Mo, most state parks most of the bathrooms are storm shelters. One Thanksgiving, a rare tornado watch, ranger stopped at both occupied sites, told us the doors where unlocked, but begged everybody to remember the water was not on.

profdant139 wrote:
Yikes! What do you do if you are out in the open, on foot, and huge ice balls start crashing down? I guess I would cover my head with my backpack?? This must have happened to someone, sometime. Gotta be a video on this, right??

LOL. Most of humanity when hail starts to fall video is not high on the list of things to do.

Yikes! What do you do if you are out in the open, on foot, and huge ice balls start crashing down? I guess I would cover my head with my backpack?? This must have happened to someone, sometime. Gotta be a video on this, right??

We held up under a 4 lane under pass, biggest thunder storm I've ever seen dropped hail the size of baseballs
we didn't get dent.

I taught my kids early in life that you choose your campsites based on the worst possible weather for where you are at and for 40 miles upstream. They now that you should never camp in a ravine or dry wash. They have seen the power of a storm many miles away with clear skies overhead. My kids tell others about these precautions.
When my daughter was about 14 years old, we were camping with a friend near Craters of the Moon National Monument. The friend started to set his tent up in a dry wash to get some privacy. My daughter walked over to the edge, looked down at him and simply stated-"You are stupid." and walked away.
The friend came over to me and wanted me to discipline my daughter. After all, we had a PhD in engineering. I asked the daughter why she said what she said. She explained to the "Doctor" that setting up in a wash was in dead stupid and explained why.
That night there was a thunderstorm "upstream" from us and the wash had 3 feet of fast moving water in it.

I was stopped for the night in Coldwater Lake, Kansas and they actually had a tornado shelter for the CG.

Lwiddis, that's good advice. But when we have just hiked four miles up a canyon in the Eastern Sierra, we don't have a lot of options!

Folks in Colorado often start their hikes in the pre-dawn so they can be back at camp before the inevitable afternoon thunderstorm. Unfortunately, in the Sierra, the lightning schedule is pretty chaotic -- some days it hits, some days it's early, sometimes it's late. Sometimes the NWS predicts thunder and nothing happens. Other days are supposed to be clear but they aren't.

So our options are (1) just don't go or (2) try to mitigate the risk when we are caught out in the open.

Stay in your vehicle. Stay away from creeks, ravines, hilltops.