The idea of braving a storm is a romantic notion best tempered with realism.

The worst storms I've been in while camping have all done pretty much the same thing. They blew flat over every tent I've used but I stayed in it and mostly dry. Several of them blew down tree branches that came very close to hitting me, and a few blew down entire trees close enough by to ensure I well understood how lucky I was not to be underneath them.

Now I plan most of my trips when no storms are forecast and pay attention to NOAA weather forecasts while I'm out there. It's pretty rare to get more than 3 days in a row here with a clear forecast, but the risks are too great to ignore when severe storms are a possibility.

Just last Friday a lightning bolt nailed a tree about 60 feet from me while I was sitting in my office. I'd got up from my desk just a few minutes before and looked outside and then decided not to walk to the house because the risk of a lightning strike was too great. The tree is about a 60 year old White Oak about 4' in diameter and the bolt blew a good deal of bark off the trunk all the way around it. I'm sure it won't survive.

I've seen huge pieces of wood blown off our trees here and some of them stuck several feet into our hard and rocky ground. I'm talking spear sharp pieces of solid oak 12 feet long weighing up to 100 pounds flying over a 100 feet.

I've walked in forests here after they were hit with downburst and straight line winds where dozens (hundreds) of huge old trees are all blown down in the same direction.



At that point I'm convinced that good luck, pure karma, and prayer, are all you really have going for you out there and your pushing their limits each time you're out in those conditions.

Getting low into a steep hollow is about the best you can do. I've watched trees getting whipped on the ridges while it was pretty calm in the hollow. Hunkering down and grounding your feet good might help when lighting is present.

Do check out the NOAA mobile app. It's got a radar feature that shows storms coming and it shows your location so you can estimate how long before a front will hit you.

I made an app myself using NOAA's data. It's at navigraphic.com. Mine still needs some work, but the radar and location features work good on it and that's all I really wanted when I made it. It's probably faster than NOAA's for just the radar.

These apps can help save your butt. They don't work when there's no connection, but when they do work they're great to have.