Lightning/thunder

[PAlbc]

Quick question regarding lightning/thunder (I'm not an umpire)

Is there a specific NFHS rule regarding when to suspend/delay a game due to approaching/nearby storm? For all our sports it's always been that once a contest start it is the official's call. Is lightning needed or is simply hearing thunder enough?

Basically all lightning safety protocols everywhere indicate that just hearing thunder is enough (because hearing it means you are close enough to the lightning that created it), yet we had several officials not observe that yesterday.

I realize the decision could be made without the official if criteria are met, I'm just wondering if the rule is clearly delineated by NFHS.

Thanks.

[jTheUmp]

Originally Posted by PAlbc

Quick question regarding lightning/thunder (I'm not an umpire)

Is there a specific NFHS rule regarding when to suspend/delay a game due to approaching/nearby storm? For all our sports it's always been that once a contest start it is the official's call. Is lightning needed or is simply hearing thunder enough?

Basically all lightning safety protocols everywhere indicate that just hearing thunder is enough (because hearing it means you are close enough to the lightning that created it), yet we had several officials not observe that yesterday.

I realize the decision could be made without the official if criteria are met, I'm just wondering if the rule is clearly delineated by NFHS.

Thanks.

Thunder = Lightning. You can't have one without the other.

And yes, NFHS does say that the game should be suspended upon seeing lightning or hearing thunder. You can resume 30 minutes after hearing the last thunder or seeing the last lightning.

[umpjim]

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

Thunder = Lightning. You can't have one without the other.

And yes, NFHS does say that the game should be suspended upon seeing lightning or hearing thunder. You can resume 30 minutes after hearing the last thunder or seeing the last lightning.

NFHS says it is a guideline default policy. Some states use 30 second flash bang which I think is closer, about 6 miles, than hearing thunder, 10 miles. If the school has a detector I've seen some that indicate safe as close as 8 miles.

[scrounge]

Had a coach get upset that I stopped a game last year on hearing thunder, excitedly claiming that if I didn't see lightning, I couldn't halt the game, that thunder wasn't enough. What did this moron think was causing the thunder, angel farts?

Anyway, after giving him my "are you dumb or just stupid" look and saying it didn't matter, he tried to bigtime me claiming he was a college and high school coach and he knew the policy. It was a rec game on a time limit, so I had my cell phone in my back pocket (never brought out except to check near end of time limit and....in case of a situation - it was summer rec after all). Made an exception in this case, pulled it out and pulled up the state policy that very clearly said "if you SEE lightning or HEAR thunder" (capitalized that way in the original document", it's a mandatory 30 minute delay, in which the clock restarts at every subsequent sighting/hearing.

Oddly, he didn't want to look at it. He knew he was busted.

[umpjim]

Originally Posted by scrounge

Had a coach get upset that I stopped a game last year on hearing thunder, excitedly claiming that if I didn't see lightning, I couldn't halt the game, that thunder wasn't enough. What did this moron think was causing the thunder, angel farts?

Anyway, after giving him my "are you dumb or just stupid" look and saying it didn't matter, he tried to bigtime me claiming he was a college and high school coach and he knew the policy. It was a rec game on a time limit, so I had my cell phone in my back pocket (never brought out except to check near end of time limit and....in case of a situation - it was summer rec after all). Made an exception in this case, pulled it out and pulled up the state policy that very clearly said "if you SEE lightning or HEAR thunder" (capitalized that way in the original document", it's a mandatory 30 minute delay, in which the clock restarts at every subsequent sighting/hearing.


Oddly, he didn't want to look at it. He knew he was busted.

Put the weather bug app on your cellphone. You won't have to look up the state policy. It shows lightning strikes in the last 30 minutes.

[scrounge]

Originally Posted by umpjim

Put the weather bug app on your cellphone. You won't have to look up the state policy. It shows lightning strikes in the last 30 minutes.

Well, it wasn't quite my point that I had to look it up, I knew exactly what it was. It was a blowhard trying to bigtime me that he was a high school varsity assistant and he knew the policy and I was wrong to shut that game down because I only *heard* thunder. So, rather than getting into it with him, I just pulled it out and essentially said without saying "here ya go, big fella".

No need for the weatherbug app, our state is simple and easy: you see lightning or hear thunder, no matter the distance, 30 min delay. And the clock restarts every single strike seen or thunder heard. Period.

[john5396]

For the original question,

The NFHS has provided their guidelines in the Rules book, which as stated above is 30 minutes for lightning/thunder. The wording states this is a default policy, use this if your state doesn't provide further guidance.

So it is a state decision what the policy is for high school play if this or other guidelines are used. One county here in NC has given all AD's a lightning detector. If he reports to me that there is lightning too close, I will stop the game. I'll still stop the game on hearing or seeing thunder/lightning, NC policy is to use the 30 minutes.

[PAlbc]

Thanks for the responses. I was pretty sure that thunder was a criteria in some way, but didn't want to chime up to an official (kind of reverse of the big timing coach mentioned above) and be wrong about it.

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by john5396

For the original question,

The NFHS has provided their guidelines in the Rules book, which as stated above is 30 minutes for lightning/thunder. The wording states this is a default policy, use this if your state doesn't provide further guidance.

So it is a state decision what the policy is for high school play if this or other guidelines are used. One county here in NC has given all AD's a lightning detector. If he reports to me that there is lightning too close, I will stop the game. I'll still stop the game on hearing or seeing thunder/lightning, NC policy is to use the 30 minutes.

Michigan is VERY CLEAR that we use the 30 minute policy.