Severe Weather Awareness Week: Lightning safety

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Severe Weather Awareness Week is March 25-29th, 2024, in Nebraska. The Storm Alert Team will cover topics each day of this week to get you geared up for severe weather season.

Today’s topic: lightning. All thunderstorms contain lightning.

It is one of the more dangerous aspects of thunderstorms but is sometimes not taken as seriously.

Lightning can strike as far as 25 miles away from a thunderstorm. If you are close enough to hear thunder, you are close enough to get struck by lightning.

And the type that will threaten your life is cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning.

Summer is the peak season for lightning.

But don’t be fooled: Strikes can happen at any time of the year.

While lightning fatalities have decreased over the past 30 years, it remains a threat that needs to be taken seriously.

Places to avoid if outside include:

• “Lightning rods” like tall trees in an open area
• Flagpoles
• Open fields
• Hills
• Beaches

Instead, seek shelter in a building.

If not a building, try to get into a car; it will redirect the strike into the ground, thanks to its metal frame.

Even if inside, plan to avoid:

• Items that plug into electrical outlets
• Water
• Concrete floors or walls

But the best defense against a lightning strike is to plan ahead and avoid being caught where you might be vulnerable.

Ultimately, when thunder roars, it’s a good idea to head indoors.

Meteorologist Jessica Blum 
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