How to stay safe when lightning strikes

Lightning remains in the forecast for the Puget Sound region Tuesday. While being struck by lightning is sometimes shorthand for describing something unlikely to ever happen to you, the National Weather Service says it actually ranks among the top weather killers in the U.S.

Just last week, a Seattle man reported he was struck by lightning while walking through Green Lake Park. At the time, he was standing in the center of an open field trying to capture video of the lightning strikes. This was not the wisest thing to do, he later admitted.

“I made possibly the world’s worst decision,” Robb Montejano told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.

But what are you supposed to do when lightning is present?

The National Weather Service has an easy-to-remember slogan for the most essential safety precaution, “When thunder roars, go indoors!”

“You don’t really want to be outside during a thunderstorm,” says Meteorologist Jeff Michalski with the National Weather Service. “If you can hear thunder, then lightning is close enough to strike you.”

There are even more safeguards you’re supposed to follow once indoors, says Michalski.

“If you’re inside, you want to stay off of corded phones or computers or other electrical equipment that can put you into direct contact with electricity. You want to avoid plumbing, including sinks, baths and faucets, and also stay away from windows and doors, and stay off of porches.”

If there’s just no possible way for you to get indoors, there are some best practices to avoid getting struck outside.

“If you are outside during a thunderstorm, you want to immediately get off of elevated areas such as hills, mountain ridges or peaks,” says Michalski. “You never want to take shelter under an isolated tree because normally the tallest structure is what will get struck by lightning. You want to get off of ponds or lakes or any other bodies of water and stay away from objects that can conduct electricity like barb wire fences, power lines, windmills.”

Ultimately, he says there’s no safe place when you’re outdoors in a thunderstorm. According to the NWS, there have been 19 deaths in the U.S. so far this year due to lightning. Their data indicates all the victims were outdoors.

According to analysis of lightning fatalities done by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), fishing, camping and boating appear to be some of the activities most highly associated with lightning fatalities, with 30 fisherman, 16 campers and 14 boaters being struck and killed between 2006 and 2013.

NOAA says it appears, from reports on the fatal incidents, that victims were either headed for safety or very near safety when they were struck, and this emphasizes the importance of getting out of harm’s way before lightning is an imminent threat.

Michalski says the chance of thunderstorms persists in the Seattle area through Tuesday evening.