Why are mountain’s so dangerous during thunderstorms? What are you supposed to do if youre camping?
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You’re supposed to check the weather when you go camping and not put yourself in unnecessary risk. Thunderstorms dump a lot of water down in a short amount of time, too quickly for the soil to absorb. Many mountains also have very little soil on them. With little water being absorbed and on steep inclines the water rushes down and can quickly wash away anything in it’s path.
The caution is specifically related to being on mountain tops, not generally ‘in the mountains.’
Its very dangerous to be on the highest points of the area, so you shouldn’t be on top of a mountain during a thunderstorm. Being in a valley or protected area away from the tops of mountains is not specifically dangerous during a thunderstorm.
Think of all the things that happen during a thunderstorm at your house: wind, rain, lightning.
Now take away the house.
Is your tent going to survive the wind? If there are no trees, there’s nothing to slow down that wind, either, so it’s gonna be coming at you full-force.
Maybe you’re in some trees. Your tent gonna survive a tree or limb falling on it when the wind snaps that shit off?
Maybe it’s raining. Tends to ok with rain. But where does that water go? Maybe a whole lot of it is gonna start rushing down the hill toward your tent, picking up rocks and debris as it goes. I don’t think your tent is gonna survive that.
Lightning. It explodes trees, makes loud noises, and it’s always looking for a nice conductive object to strike, like some aluminum tent poles stuck into the ground.
All this, and the only thing that stands between you and annihilation is some ripstop nylon and a can-do attitude.
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