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Lightning Safety
There is no safe place outdoors in a thunderstorm. Here is what genuinely helps and what does not.
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What counts as shelter
Two things protect you: a substantial building with wiring and plumbing, or a hard-topped vehicle with the windows up. In both cases the current travels through the structure around you rather than through you.
What does not count: a picnic shelter, a bus stop, a porch, a tent, an open garage, a convertible, or a tree. Sheltering under a tree is one of the most common ways people are hurt — the strike hits the tree and jumps to whatever is standing beside it.
If you are caught with nowhere to go
Keep moving towards real shelter rather than stopping. Leave high ground, ridges and open fields. Get away from water, metal fences and isolated tall objects. Spread your group out so a single strike cannot injure everyone.
Crouching in a ball used to be taught and no longer is — it does not meaningfully reduce risk. Use the time to reach a building or a car instead.
Indoors is not automatically safe
Stay off corded phones and away from anything plugged in. Avoid plumbing during the storm — no showers, no washing up. Keep away from windows and doors. Current entering a building follows the metal, and that is what hurts the small number of people injured indoors each year.
Myths worth dropping
“Lightning never strikes twice.” Tall structures are hit repeatedly, several times a year.
“Rubber tyres protect you in a car.” The metal shell does the work, not the tyres — which is why a convertible is not safe.
“It has to be raining.” Strikes land miles from the rain, including in clear air ahead of the storm.
“A victim carries a charge.” They do not. Someone struck by lightning is safe to touch immediately, and CPR started fast saves lives.
Storm risk by city
Live conditions and storm-day history for the cities that get the most storms.
Common questions
- Is a car safe in a thunderstorm?
- A hard-topped car with the windows up is safe — the metal shell carries the current around the occupants. Convertibles and open vehicles are not.
- Is it safe to shower during a thunderstorm?
- No. Plumbing and wiring can carry current into a house, and showering during a storm is a documented way people get hurt indoors. Wait until 30 minutes after the last thunder.
- Can you touch someone who has been struck?
- Yes, immediately. The body carries no charge afterwards, and prompt CPR is what saves lives.