Staying safe from hazardous weather is a lot like playing chess: the further ahead you plan, the more likely you are to win. With lightning, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes wreaking havoc all over the globe, it sometimes seems the weather is out to get you. But planning for every possible scenario can pay off when disaster strikes.
A powerful thunderstorm is one of nature’s most awesome shows, and a vivid lightning display can often send the curious outside to watch. But lightning can travel great distances from its source, and there’s really no safe outdoor location when a thunderstorm’s around. Research by the National Lightning Safety Institute has shown that there are some places you just don’t want to be in or near during an electrical storm:
• In large open spaces or high spots
• In unprotected outdoor structures such as gazebos
• Near any high objects such as telephone poles or flagpoles
• Near any metal objects such as bleachers or fences
• Near bodies of water
• Under trees
Safer places include fully enclosed vehicles such as cars, trucks, and buses, as long as the windows are rolled up and you stay away from any metal parts such as window handles or gearshifts. You may have been told that the tires on your car protect you from lightning because rubber is a good insulator. Air has great insulating properties as well, but lightning blasts right through it. If a bolt of lightning has traveled many miles to reach your car, a couple of inches of rubber aren’t even going to slow it down.
The reason cars make safer havens in a storm was discovered by Michael Faraday, a nineteenth-century British scientist who found that electromagnetic fields would not penetrate a metal grid. When lightning strikes a metal vehicle, the car protects its occupants by carrying its electrical current through the frame, leaving passengers unharmed.
If you’re in a car when a severe thunderstorm strikes, the best thing to do is to pull off to the side of the road, taking care to leave plenty of room between you and the roadway if possible. Then turn off the engine, turn on your emergency blinkers, and wait for the bad weather to pass. If you’re in a car with a body made of fiberglass or composite plastics, you should seek shelter in a safer place such as a metal automobile or a building. Although a metal car’s frame may protect you, the car itself may not be so lucky: police reports show that lightning can blow out tires, destroy an automobile’s electrical system, and, not surprisingly, completely ruin the paint job.
The best place to be during a thunderstorm is indoors, preferably in a large building. If the delay between seeing a lightning strike and hearing the thunder is less than thirty seconds, it’s time to get away from the windows and find an interior room. Other indoor tips:
• Avoid bathing or using water until the storm passes.
• Stay off the telephone (cordless and cell phones are okay).
• Turn off and unplug appliances, computers, TVs, and power tools.
If you’re caught outdoors with no immediate shelter, get to the safest location you can, away from trees, water, and metal. If you feel your hair suddenly standing on end or your skin begins to tingle, there’s a good chance a lightning bolt is coming. To make a smaller target, put your feet together and crouch as low as you can. Tuck your head down and cover your ears. When the immediate threat passes, get to a safer place as quickly as possible.
A single lightning strike can kill several people if they’re close together. If you’re in an outdoor group when lightning threatens and there’s no shelter nearby, make sure everyone spreads out so there are several body lengths between each person. If you’re at a sporting event or concert, get up and make your way to an exit.
What if, despite your best efforts, someone in your group is hit? Call 911 immediately. The victim may not be breathing, since lightning can cause cardiac and respiratory arrest, so it’s vital to maintain brain oxygen levels with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and mouth-to-mouth ventilation while waiting for emergency services to arrive. Don’t be afraid to touch the victim; no residual electrical charge remains in a person’s body after a lightning strike. If you’re outside in an active thunderstorm, consider moving the victim to a safer location.
Lightning kills about 10 percent of its victims, and the survivors often suffer long-term effects such as seizures, confusion, weakness, paralysis, and depression. According to data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), between 1985 and 2014 an average of 49 people were killed by lightning every year.
A lightning bolt lasts only a fraction of a second, but in that time it can pump 300 kilovolts (300,000 volts) of electricity through a victim. Compare that to the 120 volts carried by your home electrical system, and you can see that there are very good reasons to take cover when the next thunderstorm hits your area.