Thunderstorms and Lightning

StormReady communities are better prepared to save lives from the onslaught of severe weather through advanced planning, education and awareness. No community is storm proof, but StormReady can help communities save lives.

StormReady helps communities develop plans to handle all types of extreme weather—from tornadoes to winter storms. The program encourages communities to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations. To be officially StormReady, a community must:

• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center
• Have more than one way to receive severe weather warnings and forecasts and to alert the public
• Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally
• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars
• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.

Sites and businesses that can't meet the StormReady criteria can show their support for weather safety by joining the StormReady Supporter program.

The National Weather Service in Wilmington and the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK issue severe weather watches and warnings for our area.  Remember that:

• A statement or advisory means that weather may be developing at some point that you need to pay attention to.
• A watch means that conditions are favorable for the development of severe weather.  It means to monitor and be ready to act if conditions worsen.
• A warning is an action item - severe weather conditions have been seen or reported, and you need to do something to protect life and property

A easy way to think about it is to think of cupcakes.

• You've decided you want cupcakes and you say "I think I want cupcakes sometime later today." That's a statement or advisory.
• You visit the store and buy all of the ingredients to make cupcakes.  You have them all measured out and ready, the cupcake foils are in the tins, the oven is warming up, and you follow the recipe.  That's a watch.
• You have successfully made and frosted the cupcakes and are ready to eat them!  All of the ingredients came together to make the richest most delicious cupcake. That's a warning.

(Photo credit Brad Panovich, Meterologist)

• Plan Ahead! Make sure someone in the group gets the weather forecast before going out and make your lightning safety action plan known by all members in the group. Make sure you can get emergency alerts and if you have a smartphone, bookmark the main NWS page (www.weather.gov) and search for your location.  You can see when storms are developing.
• If thunderstorms are expected and you go ahead with your planned outdoor activity, have a lightning safety plan in place. Upon arriving on-site, determine how far away your shelter is in case lightning threatens. Remember to account for the time it will require to get to your safe location. If storms threaten or the sky begins to darken, make sure someone in the group continuously monitors the sky for lightning and listening for thunder.
• As soon as you hear thunder, seek safe shelter immediately. Do not wait. The group should implement the lightning safety action plan without delay! You are in danger of being struck by lighting. Do not resume outdoor activities until 30 minutes after the last thunder clap.
• If you are at a lifeguarded beach, lifeguards will clear the beaches when a storm is approaching.  Remember, lightning can strike even when it's not raining and strike more than 10 miles out from a storm.  Listen to the lifeguards and clear the beach.  They are leaving...you should, too!

No. No. And No.  Here's the details.

• Yes, rubber can take electricity.  And yes, the tires do touch the ground, so electricity can travel to the ground.  But, it would take some very LARGE tires to protect you, and tires are made of much more than rubber.  However, if you absolutely cannot get to shelter, an enclosed (not a convertible top - even if the top is up) vehicle can offer some protection because of the vehicle's body.  Same reason that an airplane could take a lightning strike and still fly - the plane's fuselage protects the passengers (can you imagine the size of the tires if that was true??) Check out this video from Atlanta International Airport in 2015 where a plane took a lightning strike during a ground stop.
• During the PGA's FedEx Cup at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, GA in 2019, lighting hit a pine tree at the 16th green and injured six people.  They were injured by flying debris from the tree. In 2021, a man playing golf in Vermont took refuge under a tree and was killed by a lightning strike from a severe-warned storm with frequent cloud-to-ground lightning.  Lightning is attracted to the tallest objects.  If the tip of the tree is struck by lightning (because wood is an excellent conductor), the current from the strike may travel down the tree and jump toward the person (the next highest object), releasing thousands of volts of electricity. Also, lightning can continue to travel along the tree's root system and still shock you if you are near by.  It is much safer to get inside a building with walls and a roof as soon as you hear thunder roar.
• There is no place that is 100% safe from lightning. The safest location during a thunderstorm is inside a large enclosed structure with plumbing and electrical wiring. These include shopping centers, schools, office buildings, and private residences. If lightning strikes the building, the plumbing and wiring will conduct the electricity more efficiently than a human body.  Buildings like beach shacks, metal sheds, picnic shelters/pavilions, carports, and baseball dugouts, and porches are NOT SAFE (even if they are "grounded") because they have exposed openings.

Studies have shown most people struck by lightning are struck not at the height of a thunderstorm, but before and after the storm has peaked. This is because lightning can strike as far as 10 miles from the area where it is raining and many people are unaware of how far lightning can strike from its parent thunderstorm.

Remember this lightning safety rule...When thunder roars, go indoors and stay there until 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder.

DO NOT wait for the rain to start before seeking shelter, and do not leave shelter just because the rain has ended.