lightning
 

Is there a time limit on how long you must wait before calling a game due to lightning?

Not in the rule book.

In pro ball you have to wait at least 30 minutes. (PBUC & MLBUM)

Anyone else may have their own rule. You'll need to check with the league.

MLB, MiLB and FED among others use the 30/30 rule:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/li...ing_safety.htm

for the IL high school association you have to wait 30 min from the last time you see lightning or hear thunder. That is the standard used for travel games as well.

What I am asking for is how long you must wait before calling the game. I understand it is 30 minutes from last flash to bang, etc...

Do you wait an hour before calling the game, two hours....?

How long to wait would depend on the situation. If it were a mid-season HS game you might call it after an hour after conferring with the coaches and they seem agreeable, and of course the score and inning and suspended game rules could matter to them. If it's a college world series game you might wait 3.5 hours and then call it after conferring with tournament officials (UNC-LSU game called after a long delay for rain, but was stopped for lightning).

I worked a state senior league tournament game one year where we changed fields from one that was was unplayable after a big rain, to one 10 miles away that was untouched by rain. Game lasted 5.5 hours counting the delay and the move to another field.

Thanks DG, that's more of what I was looking for.

So I assume there is no rule on how long you wait?

Correct. I always hope for a downpour, which almost always occurs, after stopping a game for lightning.

LOL, thanks for the info!

When the mud pies are ready
 

Read OBR 4.10 and 4.12 here, http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y20...nding_game.pdf.
If wet field conditions become hazardous, then call the game during the rain delay and go home. Now if wet field conditions are not hazardous, usually a coach who is least likely to want to be there in those conditions would request that you call the game. Call it using league ground rules {curfew, time limits, darkness, weather} because the league will likely reschedule the game. :p

If that isn't a choice and you're in for a long night, consult with local law enforcement personnel w/access to local weather forecast/live radar. Of course most people I know would call the game, themselves, asap and then say that "they were told by the powers that be" that conditions for resuming the game were not favorable {No lie, ;) }. :D

This is one of many radar loops. Click on your state for close-up of local weather radar conditions.
http://www.intellicast.com/National/...x?animate=true
Same info is available for local forecast conditions, if needed.

I had a game where we were in the bottom of the last inning, with runners on base and the home team trailing by a bit. A couple streaks of lightning went off in centre field, but I let the game continue and the game was finished after a couple more minutes. Should I have called everyone off the field immediately after seeing the lightning?

canadaump6,

Yes, I believe you should have - that's certainly what I would have done.

Sometimes it's an unpopular call, but it's the right one.

JM

Words to live by: Never mess with lightning.

According to the National Weather Service, lightning can strike as far as 10 miles from the area where it is raining. That's about the distance you can hear thunder. If you can hear thunder, you are within potential striking distance.

Also, lightning has been known to travel more than 25 miles from its associated thunderstorm. No game is worth the risk. I suggest you look at:

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/outdoors.htm
and
http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/bolt_blue.htm

Anyone so ignorant of the hazzard of lightning as to place players in harm's way by continuing a game ,when the field the game is being played on is stuck by lightning, should not be umpiring.

You really saw a "couple" of "streaks" and thought it was safe??? Streaks, like bolts? Yikes.

How many times have we been through this? It is bad enough to let the game continue when you hear thunder clap after thunder clap (lightning causes thunder, remember?) but you saw the lightning and didn't stop the game?

http://www.uil.utexas.edu/athletics/...ng_safety.html

Texas UIL policy for all outdoor sports is the thirty second rule on flash to bang. Most local leagues I know off use a similar rule and no lightning seen for 30 minutes minimum before restarting.

Lightning is something I would never mess with. There was a situation in Grapeland, TX in 2004 where an entire football team, 40+ people, was hit by one strike, one player killed. Everything I've ever read about the case indicated there was no previous lightning seen by anyone, no warning.

Thank you to those of you who provided insight on the dangers of lightning. The comment that I shouldn't be umpiring because I didn't call this game was just plain unthinking.

No, it was an opinion.

IMO, player safety at ANY level should always be somewhere in the front of your mind. Not thinking safety puts players at risk and in the case of lightning, your own self, and can unfortunately in our litigious times, put you at risk for a lawsuit.

Well, let's put it this way: Now that you know what a danger lightning truly is, and not just a really cool, pretty light display in the sky:rolleyes: , if you ever put players at risk like this again, then we certainly don't think that you should ever umpire again.

But we don't have to worry about that, do we, since you won't ever let that happen again, right?

Official Lightning Data
 

The bottom line is no one can predict when or where lightning will strike. However, everyone will know when and where after a lightning strike because of the inherent danger involved. If you're too close, your vision turns ghostly white and if your so lucky, you're left feeling thunderous reverberations for a short time. No doubt, people nearby will leave with the feeling that they could have been killed. The inconvenience of waiting 30 minutes pales in comparison to the possible danger. Clear the field, dugouts, stands, trees, etc., and seek shelter inside a building or car.

http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Severe/Lightning.aspx
Every weather service provider tracks lightning to ground strikes over the US. You may be surprised by the high number of occurences (1000's) during relatively clear days. There is much better lightning data (10's of 1000's) available during major TS events. One may be surprised by the high number of strikes over large areas in very short time periods {lightning strikes 100's of mile away sec after sec in every direction}. Should a lightning bolt cause any harm at a sporting event, one can easily request this data for litigation.

Remember, 300-mile long thunderstorm lines are moving 30-mph or faster, with TS cells within them moving 60-mph or faster and regenerating as much electricity in mere seconds as many water powered turbines generate in days. It would be much wiser to follow the 30/30 recommendation above. Although lightning may happen w/out warning and this occurence happens relatively often; those concerned w/the possible danger of a lightning strike will raise the question, "How did you know that?"

I would be interested to know the percentage of HS's that are using lightning detectors and the number of college and pro teams using them.

When I last called HS ball two years ago, I knew of one school that had one mounted out past the outfield fence (supposedly the system cost $10,000 or more) and I knew of a few teams that had handheld units.

Defibrilators too
 

My guess is high. Most likely the high cost of one of the early models. I believe each district is responsible for having at least one handheld unit at each football stadium.

Defibrilator units often carried by EMT are also standard in many ball parks as a time saving measure for each heart-atack victim. These units may play a major role in saving the life of a lightning strike victim too. I was surprised how the news spread so quickly from one local group to another, like wildfire, and how rapid the community response of approval came after the purchase.

It was not "unthinking." It came after considerable thought. And it was not directed at you, personally, it was directed, as I stated to ANYONE who is so ignorant of lightning that they would put players safety and lives in jeopardy.

I stand by that. This serous business, not a mindless attack. Lightning kills people every year. To allow a game to continue when lightning sruck less that 200 feet from players is inexcusable.

canadaump6 - please clarify, how far away was the lightning you witnessed?

~Bleech~
 

I call your bluff.

In my area of Oregon (a "hot bed" of thunder shower activity in March and April) there are ZERO systems.

Maybe in your "area" (Texas) has this covered. Sadly, we leave it to the umpire.

(And I hope Canada never EVER umpires in the spring in this area.)

Regards,

The lightning was followed by a small rumble of thunder about 10 seconds later. It was not 200 feet from players- when I said centre field I meant in that direction, but certainly not close to the diamond.

Alright Steve I can accept the fact that umpiring isn't for me if I put myself at risk for lawsuits. But it's not really the lawsuits that concern me, it's the safety of the players. Anytime we get lightning everyone just goes into the dugout or bench area thinking that shelter from rain also provides shelter from lightning, so they wouldn't have been any safer had I called the game. Better to play out the last 1 or 2 outs than have everyone standing in the dugouts hoping that the game gets resumed.

As a side note, I had a game today as a player in which a flash of lightning went off more than an hour before the game. We had another flash in the 7th or 8th inning, but nobody said anything and the game was completed.

Do your dugouts have dirt floors and no roof?

Tim.

Initially, you said, "A couple streaks of lightning went off in centre field"...not near centre field, not in the general direction of centre field, not beyond centre field, but IN centre field.

Okay, so now you change your story. Ten seconds equates to approximately two miles, so the lightning was still well within the danger zone. It would still be idiotic to expose players to that level of danger.

Open structures like pavillions and dugouts are, accoring to NOAA, among the worst areas to seek shelter from lightning.

Incomprehensible.

Nope, I never changed my story. You just misinterpreted it. In my post I mentioned that dugouts do not offer protection from lightning, so you're not telling us anything new there.

They have dirt floors and a tin roof. They're made of chain link fencing, so they're more like "bench areas".

Play at your own risk
 

The Flash-to-Bang method, whenever used correctly, may save some of the lightning strike victims. LDS provide a bit of "bang for the buck" for those victims standing beneath those blue skies. Cheap personal lightning detection systems range from $40 {10-miles}, $200 {30-miles}, up to $900 {60-miles}. A simple Radio Shack portable weather radio costs $20.

I see how the need for athletic uniforms, equipment, field and facility maintenance or repair, and utilities outweigh the need for LDS. These are more pressing concerns for small groups on a budget w/out adding communication and safety equipment . Expensive LDS were installed at country clubs {golf, swimming and tennis} a long time ago. I would expect newer facilities to have access to portable units, or access to hand-held radios in touch w/ local weather service providers.

So it was about two miles away. If that happens in my game, we're suspending -- right now. I don't care where the players go -- even to those lightnign attractors you call dugouts. *I'M* going to my car.

I will agree that if the flash-to-bang time is close to the 30 seconds recommended, that was the first we've seen / heard, and we're nearly at the last out, I might let the game continue for a while.