I was out snowkiting on Houghton Lake in Michigan today, and it was snowing. At one point I started feeling a sharp stinging sensation at the base of my thumb, like I had a pine needle in the glove. Then the same sensation started in my toes. It got really intense, then passed in about half a minute.
My thinking is that static electricity started to build up because of the friction of the snow against the canopy of my kite. I was worried I was about to do a Ben Franklin.
Yes, I had a similar experience at Skyline. We had low clouds moving in and I noticed a sharp pain in my hands and feet. Other riders noticed it as well. It got so bad that we all put our kites down. After about 30 minutes the clouds cleared away and we were able to ride without pesky static electricity building up.
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Yes, I had a similar experience at Skyline. We had low clouds moving in and I noticed a sharp pain in my hands and feet. Other riders noticed it as well. It got so bad that we all put our kites down. After about 30 minutes the clouds cleared away and we were able to ride without pesky static electricity building up.
Was it snowing? Or was it threatening lightning from the clouds?
Local Beach: Brancaster Norfolk 46 miles- just need a hard beach
Favorite Beaches: mablephorpe , cleephorpes uk-just need a hard beach
Style: landboarding with a petzl work harness
Gear: old blades and old flysurfer's , ckb/dex carbon landboards, modified airdeck and a home made snow board with barrel wheels ,soul's , spd5's. over 30ish old blades all set up to go ,i like a bit of old skool
iv'e had this on a beach landboarding many years ago with a sabre 1 ,when there was an electric storm in the distance every time i landed from a jump i got an electric shock in my ankles it was quite annoying , so i just kept on the ground
It’s a pretty common thing on the water as you folks probably know. In Florida it means lightning’s going to start within minutes and you had better move fast. In temperate areas that may not necessarily be the case. I had it a couple of times in OBX with storm clouds about 15 to 18 miles away. It got painful every time I pulled on the bar and when I jumped there was a loud crack, someone actually saw flash from shore one time. I quit. In that case and I suspect in yours as well it just means there is a Significant charge differential not unlike what happens before lightning storms. I would think the snow rubbing against the dielectric kite lines might do it as well but as it doesn’t happen all the time I suspect it may be due to the atmospheric charge characteristics instead. Thanks for posting, interesting stuff.
It’s a pretty common thing on the water as you folks probably know. In Florida it means lightning’s going to start within minutes and you had better move fast. In temperate areas that may not necessarily be the case. I had it a couple of times in OBX with storm clouds about 15 to 18 miles away. It got painful every time I pulled on the bar and when I jumped there was a loud crack, someone actually saw flash from shore one time. I quit. In that case and I suspect in yours as well it just means there is a Significant charge differential not unlike what happens before lightning storms. I would think the snow rubbing against the dielectric kite lines might do it as well but as it doesn’t happen all the time I suspect it may be due to the atmospheric charge characteristics instead. Thanks for posting, interesting stuff. http://www.fksa.org/showthread.php?t=669
Local Beach: Brancaster Norfolk 46 miles- just need a hard beach
Favorite Beaches: mablephorpe , cleephorpes uk-just need a hard beach
Style: landboarding with a petzl work harness
Gear: old blades and old flysurfer's , ckb/dex carbon landboards, modified airdeck and a home made snow board with barrel wheels ,soul's , spd5's. over 30ish old blades all set up to go ,i like a bit of old skool