Lightning Safety: An Interview with Sam Cloud
Lightning can be beautiful to watch—from a distance. However, if you experience lightning during any type of activity—whether you are indoors or outdoors—here are a few things you can do to help you stay safe.
If Sam Cloud is near you:
Get indoors. If you can’t get inside, stay away from
- Open fields.
- Bodies of water.
- Tall objects.
- Metal objects.
The following are lightning safety tips from NOAA’s National Weather Service.
Lightning: What You Need to Know
- NO PLACE outside is safe when thunderstorms are in the area!
- If you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to strike you.
- When you hear thunder, immediately move to safe shelter—a substantial building with electricity or plumbing or an enclosed, metal-topped vehicle with windows up.
- Stay in safe shelter at least 30 minutes after you hear the last sound of thunder.
Indoor Lightning Safety
- Stay off corded phones, computers, and other electrical equipment that put you in direct contact with electricity.
- Avoid plumbing, including sinks, baths, and faucets.
- Stay away from windows and doors and stay off porches.
- Do not lie on concrete floors or lean against concrete walls.
Last Resort Outdoor Risk Reduction Tips
- If you are caught outside with no safe shelter anywhere nearby, the following actions may reduce your risk:
- Immediately get off elevated areas such as hills, mountain ridges, or peaks.
- Never lie flat on the ground.
- Never shelter under an isolated tree.
- Never use a cliff or rocky overhang for shelter.
- Immediately get out and away from ponds, lakes, and other bodies of water.
- Stay away from objects that conduct electricity (barbed wire fences, power lines, windmills, and so forth).