STORM TRACK: March 31, 1979 (Volume 2 Issue 3)

For the first time this year, I will be using CB to monitor local traffic, road conditions (flooding?), and "public" weather reports. My call sign is KBMI 9180 and my handle will be "Storm Track." The decision to install this unit, was prefaced by concern over the possibility of enhanced lightning risk through the tall antenna. I wrote and talked with several meteorologists and chasers to get a sense of the degree of added risk. The consensus was that the risk is only slightly greater -not enough to deter the chaser who uses reasonable caution. That is, when stopped beneath a thunderstorm and exiting the car, leave quickly and move away.

One of the respondents, who is well known in the field of lightning research, wrote the following: "In my opinion, the installation of the CB antenna would not significantly increase the probability that the automobile would be struck by lightning. I would estimate that the main effect of the antenna would be to increase slightly the chance that the automobile or its accessories could develop the streamer that would make contact with a descending stepped leader. I am not aware of any increase in lightning accidents attributable to CB radios, and if I were you would not hesitate to install one on your automobile.'

In "The brief period when leaving or entering your car, you are making electrical contact with both it and the ground. [This] is, as you recognise, a most dangerous period. ... With or without a CB antenna, the chances of a lightning discharge to the car are extremely small, and the chance that this should happen at the moment you are getting in or out is -also- extremely small, so I don't think you are running any great risk. It is probable that you can reduce this risk by jumping from the car to the ground in such a way that you do not form a conductive bridge.

"I think the increase in risk from having a CB antenna could be characterised as only slight."

I also asked about any possible static warning that an incipient bolt might. provide over the CB speaker. The same source said "it is possible to pick up radio static from the stepped leader for as much as 30 or 50 milliseconds before the return strike, but I doubt that this would be of any aid in increasing your safety." (I believe this was an understatement) On the other hand, another of my contacts, who has chased extensively, said that occasionally a vehicle antenna will emit a high pitched hum or whistle a few seconds prior to a nearby lightning strike. In any case, the February, 1979 Weatherwise reported no "CB related lightning casualties in 1978."