How to Avoid Being Hit by Lightning

Americans don't get too worked up about getting struck by lightning. It occurs so randomly and so seldom that precautionary measures seem unnecessary. The odds are awfully long: Your lifetime chance of being struck by lightning is one in 607,000. Lightning can even be survived if it misses your spinal column and heart. (Roy "Dooms" Sullivan, a United States National Park Service ranger, was struck seven times between 1942 and 1977, burning holes in his hat, setting his hair afire, and burning his eyebrows off, among other things-and lived.)

Still, you are far more likely to die from a lightning bolt than being poisoned, accidentally shot, or drowning. We have tamper-resistant packaging, firearms instruction courses and swimming lessons, but nothing for lightning. According to the National Severe Storms Laboratory, there are about 20 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes per year in the continental United States. Why chance it?

Cloud-to-ground lightning occurs when water vapor becomes separated into positive and negative charges within a cumulonimbus cloud. Positive charges are carried to the top of the cloud by warm air, while negative charges drift to the bottom of the cloud. The attraction between the positively charged ground below and the negatively charged particles inside the cloud creates lightning. The stroke moves downward towards the ground in 50-yard steps until it makes solid contact with something charge shooting back up the lightning channel to the cloud. When conditions are right, another flash will be sent back down the channel. (It is entirely possible for lightning to strike in the same place twice.) The downward and upward strokes take less than a second. Lightning can attain temperatures of 60,000 degrees; thunder is caused by air in the lightning channel becoming superheated and exploding.

Many lightning casualties occur at the beginning of a storm before it starts raining. Look for large, very tall, anvil-shaped formations that are the signature of cumulonimbus clouds; electrical charges can develop as soon as five minutes after a cloud is formed. Lightning also is deceptively dangerous at the end of a storm, when the rain has stopped and people venture out from shelter, even though flashes may still be occurring periodically.

Thunderstorms most frequently occur during the afternoon, when the atmosphere is unstable. In coastal areas, there is often lightning after midnight and again at sunrise, due to sea breezes. Lightning is strongest during the summer months, picking up in May and tailing off in September. Lightning seeks the path of least electrical resistance to the ground. It is therefore attracted to good conductors of electricity, especially metal. During a storm, avoid standing near fences, railroad tracks, and tall freestanding objects such as trees, telephone poles, and electrical stations.

Two outdoor sports are particularly dangerous in the vicinity of a thunderstorm: golf and fishing. A golfer wearing metal spikes and holding a club in his hands is, as Arnold Palmer says, "a perfect lightning rod." Ask pro Lee Trevino. He was hit by lightning during the 1975 Western Open, permanently damaging his lower back. (Trevino offered this advice when confronting lightning: "In case of a thunderstorm, stand in the middle of the fairway and hold up a one-iron. Not even God can hit a one-iron. Holding a fishing rod surrounded by water is not too smart, either. If you are caught in a boat in the middle of a lake, set down your rod and hightail it out of there.

At 60 percent water, the human body is also a pretty good conductor of electricity. It is important to never be the tallest object during a thunderstorm. If you are caught in an open field and can't find shelter, crouch down in a depression and remain there until the storm passes. Dive into a shrub if you can. Cover your ears-hearing loss from thunder is the most common injury from lightning. You are relatively safe if you are in a car, which acts as a shield and conducts the charge to the ground. Roll up the windows and don't touch anything metal. Airplanes are also theoretically safe in a thunderstorm, although flying through one is not a pleasant and completes the circuit. Brilliant flashes result from a strong positive experience.

Avoid sheltering in tents or buildings with metal roofs, like garages and storage sheds. The safest shelter is a well-constructed building that contains electrical conduit and pipes, which act as a ground. It can even be dangerous inside during a storm. Avoid using the telephone, which is not well-grounded, should lightning strike a telephone line outside. Current surges can be caused by lightning hitting outside power poles and wires, so avoid using electrical appliances (including televisions) during a thunderstorm as well.

The most deadly state in the country for lightning is Florida, due to its unstable moist air and Floridians' enthusiasm for outdoor activities. Adjusted for population, the other most dangerous states are Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. The Midwest, Southeast, South, and Gulf Coast are the most dangerous regions. The West, Northwest, and New England are the safest. For reasons not fully understood, large urban areas receive more lightning strikes than rural areas.

To detect how far away lightning is, count the number of seconds from seeing the flash to hearing the thunder and divide by five to obtain the distance in miles. If you are six miles or less from the lightning, take shelter immediately. (Lightning clusters can be up to six miles wide.) If you cannot hear the thunder, the storm is probably 10 miles or more away.