Tractors and Lightning

[Garandman]

Recently 40 Army Ranger candidates and four instructors were struck by lightning at Eglin AFB (http://www.weather.com/news/news/army-rangers-struck-by-lightning). Today we had a series of thunderstorms come through the area.

At Eglin Rangers usually leave their metallic gear and move about 50 meters away. And If you are in a car you stay in it, which is a rolling Faraday Cage.

But what do you do when lightning storms come through and your are on a tractor? I was in deep woods down the mountain so not too concerned, but I realized I know nothing about what to do.

 

[boggen]

stay away from any sort of fence that is metal... lighting can come straight down the fence line!

to young at time. but one farmer that was around at the time. was hit by lighting via coming down the fence line i want to say at least 2 different times, i want to say one time he was thrown off of tractor, if my memory is correct of the story, the other time i think he was knocked out for some time.

 

[4570Man]

That poor guy most have horrible luck.

 

[RaydaKub]

Recently 40 Army Ranger candidates and four instructors were struck by lightning at Eglin AFB (http://www.weather.com/news/news/army-rangers-struck-by-lightning). Today we had a series of thunderstorms come through the area.

At Eglin Rangers usually leave their metallic gear and move about 50 meters away. And If you are in a car you stay in it, which is a rolling Faraday Cage.

But what do you do when lightning storms come through and your are on a tractor? I was in deep woods down the mountain so not too concerned, but I realized I know nothing about what to do.

If you have a cab, stay in it. Hopefully the metal all around you would keep you safe. If you have no cab or rollbar, that is, you are the highest point around, get off and get lower.

 

[smstonypoint]

That poor guy most have horrible luck.

Or he had real good luck, depending on how you look at it.

Steve

 

[Garandman]

My tractor just has the ROPS, no sunshield or cab.

 

[PILOON]

My tractor just has the ROPS, no sunshield or cab.

But that ROPS being metal and higher you would be safe as strike goes for highest point and best conductor.
But then if parked under a tree the tree would draw the strike and the cab/ROPS would be your protection.

 

[RaydaKub]

But that ROPS being metal and higher you would be safe as strike goes for highest point and best conductor.

In theory, yes, but my BX ROPS is only about 3 inches higher than my head and 6 inches behind. If the lightning originated from in front of me, that may not be the case. And 3 or 6 inches is probably not significant enough that you wouldn't have some injury anyway.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

If you have any sort of implement attached to the tractor, raise it out of the ground and raise your FEL off the ground, so the only parts of the tractor touching the ground are the tires.

When I was a teenager, I was plowing (with no cab) when a big storm blew up with an intense lightning storm. Fortunately, I had duals on the tractor. So I raised the plow out of the ground and got into the left wheel well. Just as I got in there I tasted an alkaline taste in my mouth and all my arm hair stood up as the air became supercharged with static electricity. Just as I realized what was happening, it hit about 30 feet or so from me. Scared the gravy out of me, but did not hit me or the tractor. I'm glad I raised the plow out of the ground so the tractor was not well grounded.

 

[RaydaKub]

If you have any sort of implement attached to the tractor, raise it out of the ground and raise your FEL off the ground, so the only parts of the tractor touching the ground are the tires.

When I was a teenager, I was plowing (with no cab) when a big storm blew up with an intense lightning storm. Fortunately, I had duals on the tractor. So I raised the plow out of the ground and got into the left wheel well. Just as I got in there I tasted an alkaline taste in my mouth and all my arm hair stood up as the air became supercharged with static electricity. Just as I realized what was happening, it hit about 30 feet or so from me. Scared the gravy out of me, but did not hit me or the tractor. I'm glad I raised the plow out of the ground so the tractor was not well grounded.

Raising the plow probably did nothing for you. Air is a very good insulator. Lightning will jump several miles through the air. 12 inches of rubber sure won't stop it. If it was going to hit you, having the plow in the ground wouldn't have mattered a bit. The reason you are told to stay in the car (or the cab) is because the electricity will flow around you through the metal cage. The rubber tires are not providing any protection.

 

[dusty3030]

I was driving a spray machine that got struck when I was a senior in high school. Pop up storm I had the booms folded up and was driving out of the field when I heard a ear shattering noise everything was a big flash and the machine died.
Fried the radio, cb and the spray control computer and its radar gun.
Paint was scorched on the cab roof.
I never felt anything.

It was a Tyler Patriot just like the picture below I found on the web.

 

[Garandman]

Raising the plow probably did nothing for you. Air is a very good insulator. Lightning will jump several miles through the air. 12 inches of rubber sure won't stop it. If it was going to hit you, having the plow in the ground wouldn't have mattered a bit. The reason you are told to stay in the car (or the cab) is because the electricity will flow around you through the metal cage. The rubber tires are not providing any protection.

Sitting on the tractor under the ROPS doesn't strike me as wise.

 

[BTDT2]

Raising the plow probably did nothing for you. Air is a very good insulator. Lightning will jump several miles through the air. 12 inches of rubber sure won't stop it. If it was going to hit you, having the plow in the ground wouldn't have mattered a bit. The reason you are told to stay in the car (or the cab) is because the electricity will flow around you through the metal cage. The rubber tires are not providing any protection.

I respectfully disagree with your assumption that having your metal plow buried in the ground won't increase the chance of a lightning strike. Yes, "lightning will jump several miles in the air" but it is looking for a good ground, and sitting on something in an open field that has metal buried deep in the ground is not helping your situation

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I respectfully disagree with your assumption that having your metal plow buried in the ground won't increase the chance of a lightning strike. Yes, "lightning will jump several miles in the air" but it is looking for a good ground, and sitting on something in an open field that has metal buried deep in the ground is not helping your situation

That was my thinking also. I certainly wasn't saying that raising the plow out of the ground was the reason I didn't get struck or that it was a 100% guarantee of not getting struck, but I figured it helped my odds. And having a plow buried in the ground would hurt the odds. Just makes sense to me.

 

[oosik]

I was out in one of my fields and witnessed lightning strike a tall pine tree about 50 feet away. It shredded the top five feet of 95+ foot pine and started a fire up on top. The sound was so loud, I was deafened for a couple hours - the "shock wave" hit me and knocked me to the ground. I'm just a little more careful now and certainly "chicken sh*t" about being out in any electric storm. I'm still amazed at the total force of a lightning strike.