My wife and I were talking about the best way to avoid getting struck by lighting, and I was saying you want to avoid being the path of least resistance by staying in your car, or making yourself a small ball and staying on your toes when my wife asked this question.
In: Physics
So, I have a story to corroborate what others are saying.
A few years ago I got incredibly lucky with a lightning strike. I’m an avid salmon/steelhead angler, so during the late summer-early spring I spend every waking moment on the river, weather be damned. Some of the best fishing for these fish is when its overcast and rainy. My dad and I went out one day with our spey rods knowing a storm was coming (yeah, bright idea carrying a 13′ graphite rod out wading waist deep in the river) and while we were out we could hear thunder in the distance but it was miles out so we didn’t think to hard about it; just another day steelheading. While standing in the river I remember feeling the temperature drop rapidly, and this tingling feeling in my arms, not like they were asleep, but like static, then I heard a faint fizzing sound, and then CRACK! lightening struck the top of a tree not 20 feet behind me as a torrential downpour started. I got incredibly lucky that the quickest path ended up being an oak tree and not my body that day. I like to think its because of the neoprene booties in my waders and thick rubber soles on my boots, but in reality I just got lucky.
The electricity goes everywhere, but concentrates where the most current can freely flow, or “the path of least resistance.”
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