Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com.
Every summer I am saddened to read about people killed by lightning while at the beach. Florida Today has a story of a 54 year old visitor from Oklahoma who was struck and killed by lightning while vacationing in Melbourne Beach with his family.
If you can hear thunder, get off the beach. Lightning can travel twenty miles or more away from a storm. The general rule is to wait half-an-hour AFTER you hear the last thunderclap before you venture back outside.
I won’t re-hash all of the rules here, but Brian Brawdy has some good tips for avoiding lightning on his Buried Logic blog. It’s a short list and a quick read, but very helpful. Brian also has links to good resources for those who want to know more.Lightning really is a fascinating topic.
Here’s a live demonstration on Caladesi Island of exactly what NOT to do if you are on the beach and see a thunderstorm approaching ( a YouTube video should appear below):
I have a couple of pages of information on staying safe during a lightning storm in my free ebook “How to be Safe from Sharks, Jellyfish, Stingrays, Rip Currents and Other Scary Things on Florida Beaches and Coastal Waters.” It’s a 70 page ebook free to download on my BeachHunter.net web site and has been downloaded by tens of thousands of people. It is also being used in a state park summer beach safety program as an educational tool.
My free beach safety ebook. Download your copy today!
