Staying safe in lightning storms: Tips about phones, toilets, cars, concrete

By far the No. 1 piece of advice for avoiding injury by lightning is not to be outside in a thunderstorm.

Especially if you’re going to be away from shelter in an open area — hiking above tree line, playing golf — plan your activities around the area’s weather patterns and the current forecast, lightning safety experts emphasize.

All other advice is secondary to getting to shelter: a building or a hard-top vehicle, not under a tree or an outcropping. During a thunderstorm, you don’t want to be the tallest object in an area — or standing underneath one.

Other tips for staying safe:

Outdoors

• Do not be in an open field or on a hilltop or ridgetop. Keep moving toward shelter.

• Stay away from water and metal objects (fences, cables, railroad tracks), as they are good conductors of electricity.

• If you’re in a group, stay 20 feet away from each other as you move toward safety. Though this dispersal increases the chance of somebody being struck, it reduces the chance of multiple injuries.

• A metal-roofed vehicle is relatively safe shelter. Once you’re inside, roll up the windows and do not lean against the doors or inside walls.

• Though in almost all situations it is better to keep moving, wilderness safety courses do teach a “lightning position” for those caught in a dangerously exposed area: Crouch with your feet close together, creating as small a footprint on the ground as possible. This is better than standing upright but it is no substitute for getting to safer terrain. (The National Weather Service no longer recommends the crouch position, saying it doesn’t provide significant protection.)

• Never lie flat on the ground.

Indoors

• Stay away from anything plugged into an outlet: TVs, computers, corded phones. Do not attempt to unplug such a device during an active lightning storm. It’s OK to use a remote control device or a mobile phone.

• Stay away from plumbing, as electricity can travel along pipes and fittings. Don’t take a shower or run a faucet. It’s not unheard of for a toilet to explode during a lightning storm.

• Stay away from windows and exterior doors.

• Don’t lie on a concrete floor or lean against a concrete wall, as there are metal bars in those surfaces.

• Bring pets inside. Doghouses are not adequate protection from lightning, and proximity to metal fences and chains is a risk factor.

2022 lightning deaths

Seventeen people died in the United States as a result of lightning strikes in 2022, all but two of them from June to August, the National Lightning Safety Council said (see the map). One of them was in California — the state’s ninth lightning death since 2009.