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How should you behave during a thunderstorm in the forest?

Summertime is thunderstorm season. If you're ever caught in the woods by thunder and lightning, you might remember the old saying:

"You shall seek beeches, but avoid oaks." According to traditional belief, beeches protect against lightning strikes, while oaks attract the electrical phenomenon like a magnet.

Unfortunately, this is a dangerous fallacy!

In fact, you never find any visible signs of a lightning strike on beech trees . This is because their bark is usually smooth. When it rains, water flows down the bark in a film. If lightning strikes the crown, the current is conducted through the film of water into the ground without damaging the trunk.

This is quite different with oak trees, because their bark is rough . The flowing water doesn't form a continuous film, but cascades from bark protrusion to bark protrusion. This way, it can't conduct electricity. The striking lightning seeks the path of least resistance, which in this case is the water-conducting sapwood of the outer growth rings. The heat evaporates the water and causes the trunk to split.

If you walk through the forest later, you'll see a lightning scar on the trunk of an oak tree, whereas beech trees are always without such scars . The seemingly logical conclusion of our ancestors was that lightning could never strike beech trees, so they would offer the best protection from thunderstorms. Our advice: If a thunderstorm catches you in the forest, avoid hilltops and tall trees . If lightning strikes nearby, the best protection is to crouch on the ground , as far away from the nearest tree trunk as possible.

What to do during a thunderstorm in the forest?