What to do if a thunderstorm is approaching?
Proper tour and time planning as well as turning back in time are essential to avoid getting caught in a thunderstorm. If you are caught in a thunderstorm, you can improve your situation by following simple but effective rules of conduct:
- Reliability as quickly as possible exposed ridges and stand-alone surveys such as Summit crosses and rock towers.
- Stay away from steel cables and, if possible, seek shelter in larger rock caves, but stay as far away from the rock face as possible, at least 1.5 m.
- Sit in Crouching position on the backpack or a rope to avoid a possible To avoid step voltagewait for the storm to pass.
- Im at risk of falling terraine.g. on the via ferrata, you stay always secured!
- Against Wetness and cooling you can protect yourself with a bivouac sack and functional clothing.
Thunderstorms are often accompanied by heavy rain. In a short space of time, dangerous torrents can form on rock faces and cause rock falls. In heavy rain, there is also the danger that you will quickly become completely soaked and extremely cold. This is mainly a problem on alpine climbing routes and via ferratas, where you cannot move out of the way quickly or at will, which makes the situation even worse.
If you find a dry place, it is usually better to wait out the storm there than to frantically climb towards the exit and then be without protection.
Thunderstorm types: frontal and thermal thunderstorms
There are two different types of thunderstorms: Frontgewitterwhich occurs with a cold front (and possibly a subsequent sudden change in the weather). Such frontal thunderstorms usually have a clear path and occur over a large area. Their occurrence is never surprising and their arrival time can usually be predicted well.
Heat storm on the other hand, occur primarily in the warm months and during periods of good weather, with July generally being the month with the most thunderstorms, followed by August and June. The warmer it is, the more water vapor there is in the air and the easier it is for thunderstorms to develop; thermal thunderstorms are therefore likely to become more and more likely due to global warming.
Typically, the risk of thunderstorms increases day by day during a period of good weather.
The observation of the Cloud formation provides information about the tendency for thunderstorms: If initially small cumulus or fair weather clouds quickly grow into ever larger cumulus clouds and finally into cloud towers (possibly even with anvil formation), these are clear alarm signals.
In contrast to frontal thunderstorms, heat thunderstorms usually occur in the late afternoon or evening and are limited to a specific area. A heat thunderstorm is also not an indication of a lasting deterioration in the weather.
This article first appeared in the outdoor blog bergwelt.me.
