While You're Safest Indoors, Lightning Can Still Harm You. Here’s How to Stay Safe

Were You Given This Outdated Lightning Advice?

As lightning shoots to the ground, it produces heat as hot as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is much hotter than the sun. There’s no doubt that lightning is a great danger when a thunderstorm approaches.

NOAA and the National Weather Service have done a great job with their “When thunder roars, go indoors” campaign, which warns people of the dangers of lightning. That first clap of thunder you hear is your first warning sign that lightning is nearby and you should seek shelter. As a general rule: if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to lightning to be struck.

According to NOAA, of the 25 million lightning flashes that occur each year in the U.S., roughly 300 people are actually struck. While being indoors is the safest place to be during a thunderstorm, it’s not 100% lightning-proof. About one third of lightning injuries happen to people while indoors, according to the CDC.

Lightning can enter your home in several ways: a direct strike, through wires or plumbing, or via the ground. Knowing which household items can be dangerous during a lightning strike is key to staying safe indoors.

• Don’t touch corded electronics: This includes computers (unless it’s wireless), TVs and the cords themselves. However, remote controls are safe to operate.
• Stay away from water: This includes avoiding taking showers, hand washing and washing dishes.
• Stay away from concrete: Lightning can travel through concrete walls and floors, so make sure you aren’t lying on concrete floors or leaning against concrete walls.
• Stay away from exterior windows and doors: Especially if they contain metal construction that could transfer from outside to inside the home.
• Stay off corded phones: This one should be easy for most since much of the population has cut the cord on corded phones and now relies on cell phones. Cordless phones and cell phones are safe during a thunderstorm.

Also, remember to bring your pets indoors, since dog houses do not provide adequate shelter from a thunderstorm. Our pets can be struck by lightning as well.

Lightning is one of nature's most dangerous phenomena, however, knowing what to do in the event of a lightning strike could save your life.

Here are a few facts about lightning you may have never heard:

• Men are four times more likely to be struck by lightning than women.
• Lightning can strike as far as 10 miles away from a storm.
• Water activities and sports top the list of things people are doing when struck.
• NASA satellite research indicates that these storms produce lightning flashes about 40 times a second worldwide.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.