An American man is lucky to alive after he a lightning bolt directly hit his head during a storm whilst out camping.

The man, Ryan Cross, 34, from Idaho, had been out camping with friends on a dirt bike trip when the weather turned and a huge storm suddenly rolled in.

He sought shelter from the storm under a nearby tree but was unfortunately struck by lightning on his head before the bolt exited through his back.

“They were riding, and it started raining and then all of a sudden it started hailing pretty heavily so they stopped.

“Ryan got off his four wheeler went under a tree to protect himself from the hail, leaned up against a tree, was looking at a map on his phone, and that is when it all happened.” said Heather, speaking to KTVB.

He was immediately rushed to hospital with a large burn running through his torso and bleeding on the brain. The lightning strike was so powerful that it left his clothing burning hot and in shreds.

Larry Gebert, a meteorologist with KTVB, said that the best thing to do in a storm is to look for shelter or to get low to the ground. He also noted that when out in the mountains storms have a tendency to develop quickly, without too much warning.

“Storms develop so fast and based on the ruggedness of the mountains you can’t see it coming. The best thing to do in a storm, when you have no protection is to be the smallest thing out there.”

In the US, the change of being hit by lightning is approximately 1 in 700,000.

Heather said that although Ryan is seemingly recovering well from the strike, it’s not yet known if he will suffer any long-term effects from the incident.