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Lightning Safety Awareness Week

The National Weather Service, along with our partners are conducting a Lightning Safety Awareness Week from June 21-27, 2009. The purpose of the week is to help people understand the hazards of lightning, and give them positive actions they can take to protect themselves during lightning storms. The tragic facts are: on average 73 Americans die from lightning each year, hundreds are injured, and most lightning accidents can be avoided with a few simple steps. Learn about Lightning Safety Awareness Week at

www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov

What is the most dangerous place in lightning?

More people are killed or injured from lightning out of doors than any other location. Most of the injured are involved in recreational activities. Most are struck before the rain begins or after it ends. If you are the tallest object around, or near the tallest object, you are in an especially dangerous location. Examples are exposed ridges, under a tall tree, out in an open field, next to a metal backstop on a baseball field, on the farm on an open tractor in your back yard mowing that last section of lawn. If you find yourself out of doors when a lightning storm approaches go inside a building with electricity and/or plumbing--not a shed or picnic shelter. If a building is not available, seek shelter in a metal roofed vehicle.

What are the safest places during lightning?

Lightning is a powerful and beautiful offspring of a thunderstorm. But it is also deadly. Protect yourself and your family during a lightning storm by seeking shelter in a sturdy building. In the house stay away from open windows, computers or electrical appliances, get off a corded telephone (cell phones are OK for emergency use) and stay out of the shower or tub. If no building is nearby, get in a metal roofed car, close the windows, and stay away from metal. Do not seek shelter from lightning in an open carport, bus stop or shed; you may stay dry, but you won't be safe from lightning. Learn more about lightning safety at www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov

Lightning is electricity!

You want to stay away from conductors during a lightning storm. What is a conductor? It is anything that help carry and electrical current such as water or metal. For that reason, when lightning approaches you should get out of the pool or lake. You should discontinue outdoor work with metal and go into a sturdy shelter. You should remain in an enclosed metal roofed tractor or truck but seek shelter if you are on open metal vehicles such as open tractors, golf carts and motorcycles. Stop using metal objects such as golf clubs, aluminum baseball bats, or fishing rods and go inside a building. You should stay off the telephone (except cell phones) or computer, because electricity can flow through the power lines or telephone lines. More information on lightning safety is available at www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov.

How does lightning develop?

Lightning is a large electric spark. Collisions of hail and ice in the thunderstorm cause a large pool of negative electric charges to develop in the lower part of the thunderstorm, and positive charges with smaller ice crystals high up in the storm. Along the ground under the thunderstorm, positive charges pool. As the electric charges build up, negative step leaders reach towards the ground, and connect with dart leaders reaching skyward from ground based objects such as trees, buildings, or telephone poles. When these two meet, lightning develops. If you are near a thunderstorm and your hair rises, you are in the area where positive ions are reaching skyward, and the your personal threat is very high. Seek shelter immediately!

How does thunder relate to lightning?

When a flash of lightning occurs, the air in the lightning channel is instantly heated to around 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This causes a rapid expansion of air which you hear as thunder. Since light travels 904,000 times as fast as sound, you will see the lightning before the thunder, unless the lightning is on top of you. If 5 seconds separated the lighting and thunder, that lightning was one mile away, if 10 seconds, then the lightning was 2 miles away. This is one way you can monitor your distance to the thunderstorm. You can use this to determine your lightning risk; however you should seek shelter as soon as you hear thunder. Lightning can strike from miles away. Stay inside until 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder. Learn more about lighting science at www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov

What is a lightning safety plan?

Comprehensive lightning safety requires a plan everyone involved in a group activity will follow consistently. This is especially important for sports leagues that have some pressure to complete a schedule. To be successful, the plan must be developed and followed by all the referees, coaches, parents and players. The umpire or referee often is too busy calling the plays to monitor weather so assign a designated weather watcher and backup, ideally equipped with a NOAA Weather Radio, to monitor weather conditions and call the game when threatening weather developed. More information on developing plans is online at www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov

What are signs that lightning may develop?

Lightning first develops in towering cumulonimbus clouds that are large enough to produce ice. The collision of ice in the storm is important to develop the lightning. Storms usually can produce lightning after the cloud is 10,000 feet deep. If you are watching the weather, you will see a growing cloud that has a dark cloudbase. You should also watch for increasing wind, the beginning of rain and the rumbles of thunder. NOAA Weather Radio receivers, available at most electronics stores, will issue warnings, watches and advisories as well as regular weather reports 24/7. At a minimum, the weather watch should have an AM radio.

Working lightning safety into your daily plans

If you are planning outdoor activities, check the latest National Weather Service forecast. It will include the chance of thunderstorms. As your activity gets closer, check the latest Short Term Forecast. It will include more detailed information on thunderstorm development and movement. Be prepared to alter your plans if thunderstorms develop. At your activity, monitor the weather and move to a safe indoor location if thunderstorms threaten. Be sure to plan ahead so that everyone involved in the activity know where to go if they need to seek shelter.

Lightning myths and the truth

There are many myths about lightning. Probably the most dangerous one is "If it is not raining, then there is no danger from lightning." The brutal truth is that lightning frequently strikes away from the heavy rain bands, sometimes from a clear blue sky. In the western United States, lightning frequently develops from high based storms that produce virga but no rain reaching the ground. Another myth is "I am safe from lightning since I am wearing rubber soled shoes." The truth is that lightning travels several miles from the storm to the ground so a half inch of insulation on your feet will not protect you. Again, the safest thing to do before lightning strikes is to get to a sturdy indoor location.

Lightning safety in the mountains

Always check the latest forecast before climbing in the mountains. Plan your activities around the weather. This may mean beginning a hike very early in the morning to be on the return trip down the mountain when thunderstorms begin to develop. The very worst place to be is above tree line or on an exposed ridge when the thunderstorm develops over you. If you are caught out in the open with no nearby shelter, quickly move to a lower and more protected area. Seek shelter below timberline. Avoid isolated trees but get into a large group of smaller trees. That minimizes the risk. IT DOES NOT MAKE YOU SAFE. You are only safe inside a secure building or metal topped vehicle. More information on lightning safety is available at www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov

Lightning facts

Lightning strikes somewhere in the United States about 25 million times a year. The areas that have the highest occurrence of lightning are Florida, the southeast states and the Gulf Coast States, followed by the midwest and the southern and central Rocky Mountains. The peak times for lightning are the afternoon and evenings in the summer months when warm moist conditions help develop thunderstorms. An average of 62 people are killed each year from lightning and hundreds are injured. Many of the injured report serious lifelong injuries. On average over a 30-year period, lightning kills more people than tornadoes or hurricanes but is second to flooding. Because it typically affects only one person at a time, lightning is the underrated killer.

Lightning safety for campers

When you go camping realize there is NO place outdoors that is safe from lightning. Plan your activities to avoid periods with high thunderstorm activity, typically, but not always, late afternoon and evening. When you set up your camp, avoid areas in which your tent is the highest object. Also do not set it up under an isolated tree. Pick an area with a large number of smaller trees. If you are in your tent and lightning develops, do not lie flat on the ground. Lightning can travel through the ground so minimize your contact with the ground by crouching with your feet close together and your hands over your head. If possible, stay in your metal roofed vehicle during the storm. More information on outdoor safety is available at www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov

Someone has been struck by lightning, what do I do?

If a person gets struck by lightning, they may be injured by being thrown to the ground, or get burned and go into shock. The most serious situation is if they go into cardiac arrest and stop breathing. Do not be afraid of being "shocked" by touching the victim. There is no residual electricity. Call 911 and if possible begin cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The first few minutes are critical.