Ticker for April 16, 2002

                
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April 16, 2002     April 16, 2002     April 16, 2002     April 16, 2002


Ticker Road Trip Message #1: Lightning Safety

Greetings from Calera, Oklahoma, where the entire Ticker staff is
attending one of OK-FIRST's Emergency Manager refresher courses.
As you may recall from previous Tickers, OK-First is OCS's nationally-
and internationally-recognized emergency management outreach program:

http://okfirst.mesonet.org/

Quick, what does OK-First have in common with the NCAA, AAU, National
Severe Storms Lab and the International Olympic Committee?

(dramatic pause here)

All of these organizations aggressively promote the 30-30 Lightning
Safety rule!  So, what's the 30-30 rule?

(another dramatic pause)

The 30-30 rule is the outdoorsman's, sportsman's and athletic official's
lightning safety rule.  It can save a life on the golf course, baseball
field or on a lake.  Each 30 represents a different lightning safety
component.  Persons are advised to take appropriate shelter:

1. AS SOON AS: Any lightning/thunder flash-to-bang time is less
than 30 seconds.

2. UNTIL: 30 minutes after the last lightning strike that violates
condition one.

Why 30 second flash-to-bang time?

(yet another dramatic pause)

Because NSSL research indicates that, for our part of the country,
consecutive lightning strokes usually occur within six miles of each
other.  In other words, six miles marks the somewhat-safe-from-the-
next-stroke-of-lightning zone.  And, following the rule of thumb that
sound travels about one mile every five seconds ... that means
30 seconds from flash to bang.

Why 30 minutes?

(you guessed it, dramatic pause)

The 30-minute rule represents the amount of time since the last stroke
that the six-mile zone becomes somewhat safe.

It's not a fail-safe way to prevent lightning injuries, but the 30-30
rule is a great start.  (Nothing beats staying in a lightning-safe area
whenever thundershowers are forecast).  NSSL has more, uh, enlightening
(we couldn't resist) material at:

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/ltg/

So, if you're in charge of a ball game, the company golf tournament, or
your own bass boat, remember the 30-30 rule.  And if you see the flash,
take your own dramatic pause to count the time to the thunderclap.
If it's less than 30 seconds, take shelter!