The Capital City Trail is a 20-mile bike ride. The stadium is Camp Randal Stadium, about .7 miles from our house.
About 2/3 of the way into the ride, I could see the dark part of sky encroaching and I hoped it would expand into someplace other than where I was. There was a good part of blue, and my paternal grandmother used to say, "If there's enough blue to make a pair of sailor's pants, it won't rain." I concentrated on riding fast. Put my e-bike on "Turbo" and the highest gear. I almost made it. But I completely made it in the sense that I did not get struck by lightning. When you're worried about lightning, getting wet is nothing. It was almost fun getting wet. My destination was home, where I would have changed my clothes immediately even if they were dry. It's the fear of lightning that stays with you. Oh! The lightning nightmare I had last night. The whole city caught fire.
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You can ponder a lightning physics question. It is better to ride on the side of the road with the power lines or on the side away from them.
The power lines are grounded to lightning, so might shield you from a strike. On the other hand they attract lightning, and if their impedance is high enough (ground to dc but not to a bolt) the attracted bolt might go right past onto you.
When I get hit by a negative low probability event like that with no long-term consequences, or miss a positive low probability event like winning the lottery, I console myself with the blessing of having also avoided other low probability events like cancer or being hit by a bus.
Look at the weather radar and movement before a bike ride. It almost always works to avoid getting wet.
The last time I was unintentionally soaked by rain was in the early 80's, when my "boyfriend" was supposed to pick me up after class & never showed up. So I walked home a couple of miles in a downpour. But I have gone out to play in the rain several times since then. The worst thing is trying to take off wet jeans. They weigh a ton & stick to your body.
Don't know the answer but wonder if the bike tires might insulate you from ground and retard a strike?
Like being in a car.
Lightning is such high voltage, in the millions, all kinds of weird things happen.
I bet it's been a year since I've been caught unprepared by a soaking rain, maybe longer. So long as I'm not dressed for work I rather enjoy the experience.
-sw
Pure water is not a conductor of electricity but salt water is.
Fire and fury from the sky goes Boom wherever it wants to.
Soapy water, like in a bathtub, is a conductor. Guess that is why people get electrocuted in a tub whilst using a hairdryer.
A couple of weeks ago. We where walking the dog. The weather report was "scattered showers" and it was cloudy, but not threatening cloudy. And we were about as far away from the house as we get when we walk the dog around the neighborhood, so of course that was when it started coming down.
And I'll run in the rain till I'm breathless
When I'm breathless I'll run till I drop, hey!
"Look at the weather radar and movement before a bike ride. It almost always works to avoid getting wet."
As my text shows, I did. There had been an earlier storm, but the radar showed everything clear to the west, but there was a red dot at Spring Green -- a small but heavy storm completely isolated in a vast expanse of clear.
Last June on a fly fishing float trip down the Yellowstone in MT. First it started raining then we got a half hour of marble sized hail splashing river water up on us. Memorable.
Get caught in the rain? I live in Arizona. Getting caught in the rain is not something that happens here all that often. When it does, few complain about it.
Tires on a bike or on a car do not insulate you from lightning. It's the metal frame of the car that conducts the electric around it and to the ground. Should the lightning strike your steering wheel or the wiring of your car, the rubber tires won't do a thing to save you. If lightning hits the frame of your bike, the voltage will travel through the bike and into the ground. Since you're sitting on the frame of the bike, the voltage will go through you, too. Some science myths are harder to kill than others.
It was raining here in the Shenandoah Valley when you posted this. Stopped now. Looks now as though I won’t be able to mow until Saturday at the earliest.
”But I completely made it in the sense that I did not get struck by lightning. When you're worried about lightning, getting wet is nothing.”
On more than one occasion I’ve found myself getting poured on, paddling my ass off to get off a lake while lightning struck the surrounds. My mantra for times like these are, “Don’t dump the boat, don’t dump the boat, DON’T DUMP THE BOAT!”
Of course, I’m in the backcountry, so I don’t have a warm, dry house to go home to. But I didn’t dump the boat, and I didn’t get struck by lightning, so life is good.
Good times.
Maybe when I was young. I don't recall ever being soaked by rain. I have rainy-weather gear now.
Each year almost 100 times as many people are killed by rain or former rain, than are killed by lightning.
The worst thing is trying to take off wet jeans. They weigh a ton & stick to your body.
Tell me more--as detailed as possible. And write slowly.
live in Arizona. Getting caught in the rain is not something that happens here all that often. When it does, few complain about it.
Monsoon season is coming. About ten years ago I remember a real intense monsoon. Last summer was mild.
I have a feeling that this year will be a big one. They are selling rain gauges at ACE Hardware.
When I was still running outdoors I would get soaked about once a month or so. I would try to schedule the run around the weather radar, but it was not always possible to do given my other responsibilities. I wouldn't run in thunderstorms, but rain never bothered me.
We had a tornado touchdown here in SE Wisconsin, probably the same little storm system.
"It's the fear of lightning that stays with you."
Of course there are a lot of factors that reduce the chance of that happening. You are not the tallest object around. It's one of the reasons you will almost always see one tree in a farmer's field.
But I've been caught out on the golf course with lightning, it is truly frightening (although not nightmare worthy.) The scariest and most dangerous is out on the lake in a fishing boat.
Lightning strikes on ships at sea are not uncommon. A steel ship sitting in salt water and which is the highest object around makes an excellent lightning rod. I have experienced this, but apart from making a hell of a racket and messing with radio reception, it's no big deal.
Yesterday as a consequence of that line of storms in Wisconsin that stretched from across the state, the Weather Service issued the shortest tornado warning ever. They issued an advisory because a small tornado was sighted at Jackson, a town I never heard of and had no idea where it was. And then it began raining. The tornado was moving east toward Cedarburg and Lake Michigan. I was driving and listening to the radio. But even as I scanned the horizon in case Jackson was west of where I was and the tornado was hiding in the rain, the tornado advisory was taken down. Apparently this was a weak and ineffective, possibly a liberal, tornado which nobody needed to think about. So I wasn't hurled through the air which it something I've often wondered about - how would I feel? As far as soaking wet, it happened fairly often ten or more years ago when I lived near DC because torrential downpours could come up suddenly, soaking you before you knew it was raining. My California nieces and nephews run out into the rain screaming with joy and dancing. You could have rain resorts for those Westerners, places where rain pours on you.
I have experienced this, but apart from making a hell of a racket and messing with radio reception, it's no big deal.
Not if you are in a sailboat. I had a lightning arrestor on my mast and, fortunately, never used it but a nice boat in its slip in Santa Barbara a few years was hit and all the electronics were blown out.
If you don't have a lightning system rigged, it can blow a hole in the fiberglass hull.
Two friends of mine were sailing in Chicago in a small boat when a storm came through. They capsized the boat to get the mast under water and hid in the water under the boat until the storm passed.
If there's enough blue to make a pair of sailor's pants, it won't rain
I like that. How big a sailor, though? :)
The last time I was drenched was also biking on the Cap City Trail one morning, taking the long way to work, and a huge morning thunderstorm rolled in. I made it to the apartment buildings near East Main and kinda huddled under them because I won't ride in lightning. I don't want to die ironically.
If there's enough blue to make a pair of sailor's pants, it won't rain.
Where I grew up in Pennsylvania, you needed enough blue to make a pair of Dutchman's overalls. I think that's more blue.
Confirmed tornado touchdown in Washington County
This small storm system happened after a larger storm system had already passed through earlier in the day.
Hurricane Harvey... about the third night going to bed to the still constant rain... that's when doubt started to creep in. We never did flood, and we had supplies to spare, even after taking half our supplies to the local hospital. Indeed, one week in, and shelters were turning away supplies because they had too much.
Was once biking on Martha's Vineyard and there was an absolutely torrential downpour. There was no place to take cover, so went up to a house and knocked on the door. The people couldn't have been nicer--let us in, gave us towels to dry off, served us tea, let us stay till the deluge passed.
Seems like every other time I go hunting, and never otherwise. That's the only situation where it's like there is a storm coming, but I'm 5 miles into the woods on foot. At all other times I have my handy Conus map https://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php which allows me to escape downpours with frightening precision.
Yankee rain storms are nothing. In Georgia our afternoon thunder storm comes with a downdraft mini hurricane and intense lightening, and then in 40 minutes it's over until tomorrow. The trees limbs are blown over from the tops down. It must be why they rate us subtropical. And storms in the Smokies are twice as intense.
But ice and snow are strickily forbidden down here and they must leave in a day or two.
I planted some grass over the weekend so the almost all day rain followed today by mostly cloudy skies is appreciated. Plus thunderstorms help grass grow but forming nitrogen compounds from nitrogen in the atmosphere. It falls with the rain and is absorbed by plants.
Many years ago in Chicago walking about a half-mile back home after picking up a VHS tape at Blockbuster. Yes I am old.
It's not so much about me as about my yard, which last got drenched last August, or maybe September.
Harris: I want to know, have you ever seen the rain comin' down on a sunny day?
Althouse: About 2/3 of the way into the ride, I could see the dark part of sky encroaching and I hoped it would expand into someplace other than where I was.
Harris: It's a yes or no answer.
Althouse: There was a good part of blue, and my maternal grandmother used to say, "If there's enough blue to make a pair of sailor's pants, it won't rain."
Harris: Can you please answer yes or no.
Althouse: I concentrated on riding fast.
Harris: Can you please answer the question.
Althouse: When you're worried about lightning, getting wet is nothing.
Harris: Okay, so I understand that you have not answered the question, but I’m going to move on.
Althouse: It was almost fun getting wet.
Blogger Rick Turley said...
Many years ago in Chicago walking about a half-mile back home after picking up a VHS tape at Blockbuster. Yes I am old.
When I was a kid in Chicago, I would be playing in front of the house next door. I could feel the wind change and the temperature drop.
I would quit what I was doing and run for home. By the time I got there, the rain would be pounding down.
As Bob Hope once said, "If you don't like the weather in Chicago, wait 15 minutes."
I got caught in Bangkok in a tropical thunderstorm, while walking in the park. I was able to get to some shelter - but the water came down in sheets - and I was soaked in one minute.
I thought only furriners like me would get caught unawares, but there were quite a few Thai's in our group -as we waited out the rain.
When I was 19, walking with my boyfriend in Lakeview Cemetery.. But one of my fondest memories took place about 15 years later with the boyfriend, now my husband, and our four children. We were biking along the Niagara Parkway when a storm started approaching from the north. We raced it for a good 20 to 30 minutes and just made it in the nick of time to a park picnic shelter.
@rabel LOL
." I don't want to die ironically."
We all die ironically.
We had quite some lightning last night. Doubt my phone camera did it justice.
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