Abstract
Abstract. On 31 August 2011 a lightning incident affecting two human beings was registered in the Basque Country (northern Spain). The two individuals were sightseeing in the Painted Forest of Oma (province of Biscay, Basque Country) when an approaching thunderstorm forced them to look for shelter under the lowest branches of one of the trees. A lightning discharge in that exact place caused serious injuries to the couple, consisting of the loss of consciousness, superficial burns, a tympanic membrane perforation and a broken clavicle. The investigation presented in this paper was carried out in order to find out the causes by which the couple was hit by the lightning discharge and why the injuries were superficial and did not kill them. Using the data available by the lightning detection networks in the Basque Country and the information available by the weather radar, the exact place where the lightning discharge occurred could be found, the mechanism of lightning injury was classified and the episode was reconstructed.
Highlights
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As related by Holle (2012), lightning fatality statistics related to trees have been identified in causes ground that led through tthheebloigdOhietcsn.iengandisSchcarigeentocefind its way to the last decades, for example by Blumenthal (2012b), Holle
According to the data provided by the weather radar in the Basque Country (Aranda and Morais, 2006), the core of the convective cell that caused the accident had already crossed over the site where the lightning struck the two people
Summary
On 31 August 2011, the weather report by Euskalmet (the Basque Meteorology Agency) issued the probability of developing storms in the Basque Country territory. The forecast by Estofex (2002) reported the probability of having storms in northern Spain and lightning in the easternmost part of the Cantabric region. Convective thunderclouds developed over the Painted Forest of Oma. According to the data provided by the weather radar in the Basque Country (Aranda and Morais, 2006) (see Fig. 2), the core of the convective cell that caused the accident had already crossed over the site where the lightning struck the two people.
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