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.