A few years ago, I was sitting in the stands watching my son’s high school football game. From the bleachers, I could see thunderstorms approaching the area. Finally, I saw a lightning stroke just to the south. By counting the seconds from the visible strike to hearing the thunder, I could tell it was just about 2 miles away (5 seconds per mile). I asked why they did not call the game and the sideline coach said that their lightning detector had not gone off. I guess electronic sensors in this case outweighed common sense.
The football game continued but I convinced the band director to pull the marching band (and my trumpeter son) off the metal bleachers and get them somewhere safer. Fortunately, there were no closer strikes that night, but there is ample evidence of danger from lightning. Some college and professional sports are taking notice of this and have put policies in place to protect fans and players in dangerous weather situations. Here are a couple of recent articles discussing the policies of professional baseball and college football.
The Capital Weather Gang posted an op-ed in the Washington Post discussing the problems with leaving calling lightning delays for professional baseball in the hands of umpires, who are also charged with finishing the game at all costs.
Dr. Marshall Shepherd of UGA posted a column on Forbes.com on recent lightning delays and cancellations in college football games last week. Are they disruptive? Yes. But the cost of having fans or players injured or killed by lightning because they do not stop the game outweigh the inconvenience of stopping play.
Do you have a lightning policy in place for your outdoor activities, either personal or organized? Here’s some advice from the National Weather Service on lightning safety and outdoor activities https://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/sports.shtml.
