How to Keep Safe in a Storm

During a storm outside.

• Always make sure you make a lightning safety plan with your friends or your group.
• Before going on a long hike or being outside for a long time, check the weather forecast for the day.
• If you hear thunder, then it is dangerous and you need to find a safe place. Lightning strokes are much bigger than you think. The average stroke can be 8 to 10 miles long as it reaches down from the clouds. Lightning travels fast, so that it only takes a stroke of lightning a fracture of a second to travel 10 miles, faster than the speed of sound. That means by the time you hear thunder, you are already in danger.
• If you and a friend are outside and you see your friends hair start to stand up or you feel prickles on your skin, you are in danger. That means a lightning strike is building up close by and can strike any time.
• Know where to go if a storm approaches, inside a building or in a car (not a convertible and with the windows rolled up) are the best areas.
• If you are caught in a thunderstorm, try to find a low place to stay in until the storm is over, like a ditch, ravine or cavern might be safer than being out in the open. But don’t stay where there is standing water. Under a tree is never a safe place during a storm, if the strike hits the tree it might hit you as well.
• If you cannot find a shelter, don’t lie flat, that does not help. Get in to the “lightning safety position”, squat down near the ground with your heels touching and put your hands over your ears.
• If someone is hit by lightning, call 911.

During a storm, inside your home.

• Lightning travels through certain objects in your home so you want to be careful to stay away from anything metal.
• Do not stand near the windows.
• Do not take a shower or bath.
• Don’t use the phone, even cell phones can hurt your ears if lightning hits and travels through the line and makes a loud “pop”.
• Stay away from a metal stove or fireplace.

What to do at sporting events.
If you are on a sport team, or have children in sports and there is a thunderstorm during a game, what should you do? Should you tell the coach or the person in charge, that the team should get off the field? If the coach says it is just a little rain and not to worry about it, should you leave anyway and take shelter? This is a serious question. You or your children could get kicked off the team if you leave, but your life is more important than the game. In 1999, a whole football team was injured by lightning in Colorado. My advice is to discuss this question with the coach before the season begins.
How far away can you hear the thunder from a lightning stroke? It depends a lot on how much noise is going on around you. (It's much noisier at a ball game, for instance.) You've probably heard that you can use the "counting method" to tell how far away a storm is by counting the number of seconds between a flash and the arrival of the thunder. THAT ISN'T TRUE!
The risk of using this method to tell if you're in danger from a storm is that you can usually only hear thunder that is three or four miles away. Since the average stroke of lightning is twice that distance, you can be in direct danger from the next stroke of lightning without ever hearing any thunder.
In fact, most people struck by lightning say they never heard any warning thunder before it happened.
The ThunderBolt® Storm & Lightning Detector and other products can prevent this problem by detecting the storm long before the lightning can reach your location. This gives you plenty of time to go to safety without waiting to hear thunder.

To learn why the Flash Bang Counting Method is Dangerous CLICK HERE »

If someone is hit by lightning.

• It is not dangerous to touch someone who has just been hit by lightning.
• If someone is hit by lightning and there is still thunder take the person to a nearby shelter (a building or a car).
• Once the person is in a safe place, send for help.
• If the person is not breathing, CPR must be done immediately.

Learn CPR.

• The University of Washington School of Medicine

Emergency supply kit list.
You will need a three-day supply of non-perishable food. Non-perishable means food can stay good for along time without needing to be in the refrigerator. It is also good if  the food doesn’t need to be cooked.
Here are some suggestions:

• Ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits and vegetables
• Canned juice, water, milk and soup
• Sugar, salt and pepper
• High energy goods, like peanut butter, jelly, crackers, granola bars, trail mix
• Vitamins
• Fun foods! Like cookies, hard candy, lollipops, instant coffee and tea
• Special food for babies or older people
  
  The food should be kept dry and cool. Cookies and crackers and other items should be put in plastic bags.