Urban Versus Backcountry Lightning Risk Management

In the backcountry, if you believe that your safety is linked to the best tree to shelter under, then you are woefully underestimating the risk and unpredictability of lightning. Don't travel in exposed terrain at higher elevations when there is a probability that a lightning storm is going to catch you. There is a difference between objective and subjective hazards. Severe weather exists whether you're around or not. Lightning existsWhether you do or not. Those are objective hazards. Subjective hazards on the other hand represent your behavior. It's the behavior that puts people at greater risk than their environment.