Severe weather preparedness: Lightning safety
Lightning is the most common thunderstorm related hazard, striking across the United States 25 million times each year. While severe thunderstorms often produce frequent lightning strikes, by definition, all thunderstorms produce this deadly hazard.
The best way to stay safe from lightning, is to take shelter in a closed structure or automobile whenever thunder is audible. Although flashes of lightning are easily viewed at night, day-time lightning strikes are less visible. In some cases, lightning can strike up to 25 miles away from its parent thunderstorm. These elusive lightning strikes are called “bolts from the blue”, as they appear to come from clear blue skies, originating from the anvil of a distant thunderstorm.
When thunder roars, go indoors! If you’re close enough to a lightning strike to hear the rumble of thunder it produces, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.
If shelter is not an option and you are trapped outdoors, there are several locations to avoid in order to reduce your chances of being struck. While lightning can strike anywhere, it tends to favor elevated surfaces like hills or ridgelines. Lightning also favors stand-alone trees or other tall isolated objects. Retreat to a low lying area and crouch down with your feet together to minimize your chance of being struck if caught outdoors during a thunderstorm.
Because lightning is an electric current, it’s also important to avoid conductors during a thunderstorm. This includes bodies of water like lakes, ponds, rivers, and swimming pools. Metal objects such as umbrellas, golf clubs, or fishing poles can also be conductors of lightning's deadly current.
Lightning can be memorizing, but these flashing bolts of electricity are hotter than the surface of the sun. A striking threat that should always be taken seriously.
