Following on from the GOAT's valuable advice about "leave the water if the thunder & lightning are within 10 secs of each other"...
...if you do find yourself caught in the above predicament...
thunderstorm clouds and the air around them are a mass of energy with a negative charge (-)
and the earth is a mass of positive charge (+)
these negative particles will be attracted to the most amount of positive charge, and then will proceed to discharge, the result of which is lightning...
the place you do not want to be is amongst the mass with the most amount of positive charge in the area...
this is why people in an open field like a beach or golf course tend to be struck by lightning...
but all is not lost...you can tell if you are by:
the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up !!
(I'm not talking about the ones like where you get a chill or a fright)
I mean a strong prescence, like if you feel it, you will be afraid to touch it, because it is that strong you think you will get a static shock if you touch the back of your neck...
so, if you are caught in an electrical storm at the beach, and if you feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up while you are making your escape across the sand to shelter - RUN LIKE BUGGERY FOR COVER !!
in this predicament do not worry if you are the tallest object around because you probably are, and the most important thing is to make like a seagull & GET THE FLOCK OUT OF THERE...
about a 50 metre SPRINT will do the trick...
so practice your beach sprints if you plan to make the most out of the good surf conditions (glass off) close to an electrical storm...
Lightning tips...
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- matt...
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Lightning tips...
nature is a language. can't you read?
if you spend your life looking behind you, you don't see what's up front...
if you spend your life looking behind you, you don't see what's up front...
- matt...
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what...to cool the land down, or the ocean ?moneyman wrote:What i want to know is why is it always offshore for that period when there is thunder and electricity? Is it because the air over the land is moving over the sea to cool it down?
In summer, wind from the land is warmer than from the ocean...if that helps...
I think the wind drops because it is the "eye" of the storm, or the pressure cell...
nature is a language. can't you read?
if you spend your life looking behind you, you don't see what's up front...
if you spend your life looking behind you, you don't see what's up front...
- christopher
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i dunno bout the storm one but i found out why it seems to always be offshore in the morning...
never really thought about it but if u do u start to really wonder why it is offshore most mornings early...
its something to do with as the air begins to heat up from the sun, the cooler air over the great dividing range begins to sink and spreads outwards and towards the coast so we get soft offshores early...
never really thought about it but if u do u start to really wonder why it is offshore most mornings early...
its something to do with as the air begins to heat up from the sun, the cooler air over the great dividing range begins to sink and spreads outwards and towards the coast so we get soft offshores early...
seriously dont beleve that the great dividing range actually affects weather over a large area, maybe like a sm,all rainshaddow but no air sinking fdown from it makes an offshore wind. its because the air over the ocean is warmer than the air over land (some mornings) so the ocean air rises and cool land air moves into the void
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