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How to Survive a Lightning Strike

MWard said:
That looks like a badass cloudburst
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exactly. it rarely rains here...but when it does Ma Nature doesn't mess around.
 
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Played a lot in Florida, but never really came close to being close down there. We were playing a course in CT back in the 90's when a strong front moved through. there were no sirens or horns (that we heard), so we were just playing it by ear. No rain yet, just got gusty and dark approaching from the west. We were on the 9th tee looking down the fairway, and behind us we could then see the approaching squall line. We debated teeing off, then marking the balls and heading to bar to wait it out. the 50mph gust decided that we would NOT be teeing off and made a hasty retreat down the fairway towards the clubhouse and under the porch. As we descended the hill, the clouds turned that greenish grey color and it started to rain a bit. About halfway down, the hairs on both of our arms started to stand up and we felt funny. I was the passenger, so I dove out of the cart and then made one of the action movie rolling falls to a jump up and run. The hairs went back down and we made it just as the raindrops became a torrential down pour. As we all huddled under the porch we could hear the lightning crackling and at least one sounded really close. We hopped into the bar for a beer and it cleared up in about 20 minutes or so. We went back to the 9th tee and find that the tree next to the tee box was split in half. One half standing and one half fallen over. :eek:
Good thing was the greens slowed down a bit...
 
I have a good friend’s older brother die from a Lightning strike. He was rushing home from a friend’s house before a storm. Crazy stuff. I’m not personally afraid of lightning but don’t mess around if it’s near me.

I have also almost been struck by lightning. I was 6 years old hitting a tennis ball against my garage door. I was with a babysitter. Storms were coming but it wasn’t really raining too much. She begged me to come inside. I wouldn’t do it. Finally as I’m walking up to the porch a lightning bolt strikes right in front of me about 10 feet away. I fall to the ground. My drive way was cracked and where it hit there was rubble. She was crying. I felt bad because I didn’t listen to her and made her feel terrible. One of the first serious lessons I got on obeying the rules lol.
 
Never even considered any of this stuff. I usually play it by ear, but I've been pretty close to being struck, so I've gotten more conservative over the years.
 
I’m definitely cautious with it. If I see dark clouds it’s usually an indication of heavy rain. Since I want to part of being on the opposite side of the course when it starts I’ll try and head back depending on where I’m playing. If I see lightning in the distance I don’t really worry but if it’s coming my way I’ll try and move towards shelter.

A nasty storm hit when I was playing a few summers ago and it continued to lightning a little after the rain stopped but nothing close. We were playing until a bolt hit the cornfield across the street and we decided to call it quits
 
Some good info in the graphic, thanks Dan.

I’m a weather nerd so I know what the forecast is before I tee off and, if the possibility of thunderstorms is in the forecast, I am checking the radar every 10 minutes or so if the storms aren’t expected for sometime. If storms are expected within an hour or so, I’m keeping my butt off the course. IfI hear thunder, I start heading to the clubhouse. I don’t mind being the guy who was too cautious and catching some shot over it.

my closest call on the course came long before the advent of cell phones with good weather apps. I was as far from the clubhouse as I could be when the storm started blowing up. I started walking back in when I heard a very sharp crack of thunder and could smell pine a few seconds later. I didn’t see a flash. I covered the last few hundred yards seemingly at a Usain Bolt pace!

Closest ever, I was in my house washing dishes and listening to the local weatherman talk about the approaching thunderstorms when I saw white and heard the boom at the same time. It shook the house. It struck an oak tree about 100 yards away and just absolutely destroyed it.

I am a great respecter of lightning and don’t FAFO.
 
Lightening scares me because it can strike from odd angles. One might think the lightning is often the distance but yet can be struck when it seems like it's not close to you. Here is a tip for golfers:

"Don’t rush back out onto the course straight away. Wait 30 minutes after the last lightning flash before resuming play, as over half of lightning deaths occur after the storm has passed."
 
Smiter said:
It’s all about the timing. Not the height.

You wanna play Deer Ridge this afternoon? I heard they’re putting great.
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Working until 5. :(
 
My closest call happened at an old pool I used to work at way back in the day. It was getting really dark to the west, but our rule was "Get people out of the pool at the first flash or the first rumble of thunder." First strike was pretty far off, so I got everyone out and moved them inside. Then I realized I needed to put down the umbrellas so they didn't get messed up by the wind. Like a dummy, I ran out there to save it. As soon as I took down the last umbrella from the stand, I felt all the hair on my body stand up and heard a "zzzzzzz" electrical buzz with white flash less than 4 feet away from me. It struck the lifeguard stand I just stepped off of. Man, that stuff messed me up and I felt like I was beside a bomb that went off. My ears were ringing so badly all I could see was people's mouth moving when I walked inside, big blue spots in my vision, trouble breathing, and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. Those effects went away in about 10 minutes, but I was jittery and my joints felt like I got hit by a truck for about two days after that.

Storms don't bother me at all, though. If I'm out in the woods, I don't get too worried about it. Around water or or open space like a golf course though, get me the F*CK out of there!
 
My closest call was being on a lake in a metal boat when a storm rolled in Not fun watching lightning not that far off.
 
I knew it all already from being a backpacker.

When golfing I pretty immediately head for shelter

Closest calls were while backpacking, having lightning strike around us, setting up camp amongst fallen trees from lightning strikes.
 
That's good to know - we've always ran under a clump of trees (never one standing alone). Recently I saw a video of 4 people that stood under one tree in a clump; lightning struck that tree and knocked them all out, so that probably wasn't the best thing to do.

Growing up in FL and then playing many years in AZ and TX, I have a healthy respect for lightning. I've had trees and powerlines struck close by, with me no more than 20' away.

I have a friend that played with 3 others in Flagstaff, AZ many years ago (it's common for a thunderstorm with intense lightning to appear every afternoon in the Summer there). They ran under a tree which got struck - it blew them all outward and several of them had their shoes blow off. My friend took the worst of it with a huge chunk of his calf AND his nose getting blown off. To make it worse, part of the tree fell on him.

The other 3 guys didn't have much else happen to them as a direct result of the strike, but oddly enough, all of them died within a few short years. They were all relatively healthy and in their 50's when this happened. My friend went through extensive rehab and had his leg rebuilt and nose replaced - he was still alive when I last saw him in 2019.

I don't eff with lightning at all...
 
Tapping my heels together … "there's no place like home, there's no place like home." :sneaky:
 
As a first responder I've known most of this.

I always laugh at the number of golfers that seek shelter under a tree. Seems to be the worst place.
 
pattyboy21 said:
That's good to know - we've always ran under a clump of trees (never one standing alone). Recently I saw a video of 4 people that stood under one tree in a clump; lightning struck that tree and knocked them all out, so that probably wasn't the best thing to do.

Growing up in FL and then playing many years in AZ and TX, I have a healthy respect for lightning. I've had trees and powerlines struck close by, with me no more than 20' away.

I have a friend that played with 3 others in Flagstaff, AZ many years ago (it's common for a thunderstorm with intense lightning to appear every afternoon in the Summer there). They ran under a tree which got struck - it blew them all outward and several of them had their shoes blow off. My friend took the worst of it with a huge chunk of his calf AND his nose getting blown off. To make it worse, part of the tree fell on him.

The other 3 guys didn't have much else happen to them as a direct result of the strike, but oddly enough, all of them died within a few short years. They were all relatively healthy and in their 50's when this happened. My friend went through extensive rehab and had his leg rebuilt and nose replaced - he was still alive when I last saw him in 2019.

I don't eff with lightning at all...
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Going under a single tree isn't the best plan. Lightning will work its way toward the ground after hitting that tree. Items that are shorter than the tree but above ground level are prone to getting a secondary hit, as your friends unfortunately found out the hard way.
 
We've played plenty of rounds in Arizona summer thunderstorms, when the rain actually feels good as a relief from the heat. I'll admit we've probably been a bit too casual a few times about lightning in the distance, especially since I know lightning can strike a long ways from where you see it. But if it starts getting close, we don't eff around with it - time to seek shelter and ride it out or call it a day.
 
Snickerdog said:
Usually if we can see lightning in the distance and hear thunder we are off the course.
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Same. I don't goof with it. Not with a perfectly good clubhouse stocked with various beverages close at hand. I'd much rather (and have, a few times) watch the storm pass thru the windows with a nice scotch in front of me.

Haven't had any close calls on the course, but had one in my former life as a guitar player...

We were playing a show at a big covered patio deal in north Texas. Big patio; maybe 1,000 seats under cover or so. No walls, just roof. During soundcheck I see the sound guy running, full sprint, from the sound board up to the stage, which can never mean anything good is happening.

He gets to the side of the stage and starts slamming the OFF buttons on every amplifier and piece of gear in the rack. Blam, blam, blam, total shutdown, turning it all off as fast as possible.

I yell over hey what's up, he says go outside and look up... so like a moron, I do, and the whole sky - which was a very odd shade of green at that point - is twisting and spinning above us. No rain or thunder or lightning, but we're directly under a funnel trying to form.

It's oddly cool to look at and somewhat mesmerizing so I stand there gawking, until lightning strikes the basketball goal on a court off to my right. The tornado touched down a mile or so away and wrecked a (thankfully empty at the time) Boy Scout camp.

The promotor was on us to start the show right away... I said no chance I'm plugging in my guitar until the radar is clear, and you can go $#@!$#!$#%!! if you disagree, Mr. Promoter.
 
bull0120 said:
My closest call happened at an old pool I used to work at way back in the day. It was getting really dark to the west, but our rule was "Get people out of the pool at the first flash or the first rumble of thunder." First strike was pretty far off, so I got everyone out and moved them inside. Then I realized I needed to put down the umbrellas so they didn't get messed up by the wind. Like a dummy, I ran out there to save it. As soon as I took down the last umbrella from the stand, I felt all the hair on my body stand up and heard a "zzzzzzz" electrical buzz with white flash less than 4 feet away from me. It struck the lifeguard stand I just stepped off of. Man, that stuff messed me up and I felt like I was beside a bomb that went off. My ears were ringing so badly all I could see was people's mouth moving when I walked inside, big blue spots in my vision, trouble breathing, and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. Those effects went away in about 10 minutes, but I was jittery and my joints felt like I got hit by a truck for about two days after that.

Storms don't bother me at all, though. If I'm out in the woods, I don't get too worried about it. Around water or or open space like a golf course though, get me the F*CK out of there!
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Perusing to see if anyone here has been struck. Think I found the winner! Glad you’re alive!

I’ve never experienced it on the course, just not frequent here. Backpacking and at the lake are where my experiences have been. Had a couple that made vision go white. Also had all the girls in our group have their hair stand straight up, but that lightning was staying in the clouds.
 
TheHeez said:
Perusing to see if anyone here has been struck. Think I found the winner! Glad you’re alive!

I’ve never experienced it on the course, just not frequent here. Backpacking and at the lake are where my experiences have been. Had a couple that made vision go white. Also had all the girls in our group have their hair stand straight up, but that lightning was staying in the clouds.
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Haha as cool as it would be to count it, I don't think I can. What's the electrical equivalent of singing your eyebrows off lighting a grill haha? That's what I did lol.
 
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I don't intentionally test the odds anymore, but doesn't bother me.

When I was younger we had a 🌪 warning and went outside to see it and just goofing around. Thought it was the neatest thing ever and never did much damage as we were in the country. Everything was so quiet and could see everything going on. Didn't understand why it looked so bad just a little ways away. Hadn't heard about the eye of the storm before.

The hair on my body was moving with no wind and kinda tingly. Seeing static electricity flowing through the air like those tesla coils Just running around all statically...until my mom realized I had gone outside. The look on her face I knew I was in trouble. Thank goodness me not getting beat down from lightning was enough to escape punishment.

Nothing happened and the tornado went back up...I think, or that may explain a lot.
 
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