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Raising Awareness for Lightning Safety

06/26/2019, 2:45pm EDT
By Mickey Kennedy

Some Tips To Help You Stay Safe with Help From Thor Guard

This week is Lightning Safety Awareness Week, and we’ve partnered with Thorguard to provide some tips on how to stay safe and the best methods for judging whether or not it is safe to play. 

READ MORE: Thor Guard Joins USL’s Preferred Supplier Program

Currently, most public fields and teams use the 30/30 system for judging whether or not it is safe to play with a storm around. The initial 30 assumed activities were safe to continue if you could count to 30 between a lightning strike and the thunder that follows it. This assumption was based on the speed of sound through the air but not based on the science behind storms as lightning can travel from storms from eight miles away. If your fields do not have a lightning prediction and warning system the best method to stay safe is to clear the fields if you can see lightning. 

The second 30 rule assumes if you see lightning you should wait 30 minutes and if you do not see lightning again you are clear and able to continue activities. This method can either be dangerous or simply a waste of time as the only real way to judge local danger is with a Thor Guard System. The dangerous system could potentially still be in the area after 30 minutes or the system could have cleared just moments after the last strike. 

In most scenarios, if you can see lightning or hear the following thunder it is within 10 miles and all activity should be stopped.

READ MORE: Types of possible unique lightning scenarios.  

During a thunderstorm, there is no place outside that is safe to stay while waiting it out. The best place to go is a larger building, not a small outdoor building, but something similar to an office building, school, or a house. If none of those are available a hard-topped metal vehicle also provides protection.

At the end of the day the very best, and most efficient, method to lightning safety is through the official lightning and prediction warning system supplier, Thor Guard. 

Thor Guard is the world’s only true lightning prediction system. In business since 1973, no company in this space has existed this long. With thousands of customers worldwide, Thor Guard’s data-driven solution to various dangerous weather conditions takes safety to the limit of technology. While lightning prediction is the centerpiece of all Thor Guard systems, the new 360 adds Thor Guard data-driven lightning detection, site-specific severe weather and tornado prediction, two levels of heat index warnings, valuable local weather data and complete access to all data on phones and computers. Where required, automated horn and strobe warnings are available.


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