Althouse: "In the event of a thunderstorm, the beach is a very dangerous place to be. So if you feel things like a wind shift, if it’s fluttering back and forth between hot and cold..."

June 26, 2024

"In the event of a thunderstorm, the beach is a very dangerous place to be. So if you feel things like a wind shift, if it’s fluttering back and forth between hot and cold..."

"... you see the clouds, you hear little rumbles of thunder — those are signs to get off the beach.... By definition, every thunderstorm contains lightning. Therefore, every thunderstorm is potentially dangerous"/"Lightning is always looking for the easiest path from cloud-to-ground.... On a wide open beach — with no trees, buildings, or structures around — a person can often be the most effective conductor around."

Advice from a lifeguards and a weatherman, quoted in "Man Dies After Being Struck By Lightning While Trying To Get Kids Off Beach During Thunderstorm/Patrick Dispoto, 59, died after being struck by lightning in Seaside Park, N.J., on Sunday, June 23" (People).

20 comments:

wendybar said...: Big news here at the Jersey shore, but it happens every single year.; 6/26/24, 7:39 AM
rehajm said...: If only we had cameras scanning the sky to help us anticipate where lightning could appear and then some way to communicate that to people outside, like those hand held communicators they used on Star Trek…; 6/26/24, 7:44 AM
Kate said...: I had to google the name: sand fulgurites, or lightning glass. Don't be the conduit for its creation.; 6/26/24, 7:45 AM
Elliott A. said...: After a storm do NOT go back on the beach for 1 hour! The air is still charged. Several years ago in Hilton Head, SC, after a thundershower, my wife and I returned to the beach about 45 minutes later. The sky was completely clear. Sitting in our chairs on the beach, about 5 minutes later, a lightning bolt came out of the blue and hit the water about 50 yards out. I learned a valuable lesson that day.; 6/26/24, 7:52 AM
mindnumbrobot said...: Lightning is no joke. Never think the storm is "still too far away" because it's not.; 6/26/24, 7:55 AM
Rusty said...: Once upon a time I had an Outward Bound experience on a large lake, during a severe theunderstorm. In an Aluminum canoe. As the wind blew and the canoe filled with water Lightning was striking trees on the shore. A lot of lightning. Needless to say it was not a joyful experience.; 6/26/24, 8:00 AM
Iman said...: Lightning Rod Man; 6/26/24, 8:05 AM
John henry said...: News we can use; 6/26/24, 8:06 AM
Iman said...: The Lightning-Rod Man

He walks in the store

The Lightning Rod Man

Comes in where it's warm

To make you feel safe

Safe as can be

As long as you don't stand under a tree; 6/26/24, 8:07 AM
gilbar said...: Kate said...
sand fulgurites, or lightning glass. Don't be the conduit for its creation.

i see what you did there! Your humor is well grounded in common sense; 6/26/24, 8:15 AM
Aggie said...: ....and at no charge !; 6/26/24, 8:21 AM
Cappy said...: Darn climate change!; 6/26/24, 8:22 AM
Quaestor said...: The Atlantic coast of Florida is prone to the sudden onset of dangerous weather, particularly between August and November. Consequently, many public beaches are equipped with weather alert sirens and PAs. I recall a waterspout alert announced for the Hallandale Beach area. The park police cleared everyone off the beach, including me, even though the sky was mostly clear. The only visible clouds were hovering on the eastern horizon. They weren't kidding. A few deadhead bodyboarders got attested for ignoring police orders. So I got dressed and went to Gulfstream in time to see the waterspout come ashore, accompanied by numerous lightning strikes. In less than an hour, the weather went from uncomfortably hot and humid to apocalyptic.; 6/26/24, 8:22 AM
Big Mike said...: He had reached safety but went back to try to warn others. Brave, but it cost him his life. Is that a 21st century lesson? Once you’re okay to Hell with everyone else? I spent 54 years in the last century, and I honor the man for risking his life to save others, even though it worked out badly for him. I will irritate the feminists by describing him as manly, and honoring him.; 6/26/24, 8:30 AM
Jersey Fled said...: Same thing with golf courses, which have the added benefit of tall trees.

Don’t wait until you see the lightning.; 6/26/24, 8:45 AM
Quaestor said...: Believe Doppler radar. It sees what you cannot see.; 6/26/24, 9:04 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: I'm a living proof of Miki Dora's admonition that salt water kills brain cells. I've surfed religiously since 1965 in Florida, the home base of lightning. It's not uncommon to have 20,000 lightning strikes in one afternoon monsoonal downpour. Never, ever, did we abandon the waves for shelter before, during or after a storm. Not even in the run up or aftermath of a hurricane. Can't believe I'm still alive and made it to 71.; 6/26/24, 9:13 AM
Guimo said...: Not to brag, but years ago on Maryland’s Assateague Island, a thunderstorm came up and everyone scurried off the beach except for one couple with a small child huddled together under their beach umbrella with its metal prong pointed skyward. I went back to warn them of the danger of lightning. They were Latinos and seemed unconcerned—until that very moment, and that’s when they left the beach with the rest of us.; 6/26/24, 10:10 AM
mikee said...: No standing on beaches during thunderstorms, no standing under trees during thunderstorms, no walking on golf courses during thunderstorms. Got it. I'll follow Lee Trevino and hold a 1-iron over my head if caught in a thunderstorm, because as he said, "Even God can't hit a 1-iron."; 6/26/24, 11:57 AM
Oligonicella said...: Elliott A.:
The sky was completely clear. Sitting in our chairs on the beach, about 5 minutes later, a lightning bolt came out of the blue and hit the water about 50 yards out.

More rare, but it doesn't even take a storm. The youngest son of an acquaintance, his grandfather and brother were working on a barn roof. No storm at all and out of nowhere a bolt struck Eric, now called Lightning Boy because he lived. He did, however, run around aimlessly and off the end of the barn. Miraculously, no injury other than from that point on his hair was frizzy and refused to lay down regardless of any coaxing.; 6/26/24, 12:03 PM