Lightning/Thunder Delay

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by ozzy6900

What pisses me off is hearing the idiot coaches and parents complaining that there is no lightning (bit the thunder is rolling like a rock slide), so why are we stopping the game?(

That's the best reason to have a meter, imo. No one argues when the alarm goes off -- they just clear the field and wait for the "all clear."

That said, they aren't perfect and will give both false positives and false negatives. The latter is more problematic, so we must use some common sense -- I've stopped games even when the meter hasn't gone off.

[ASA/NYSSOBLUE]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

That's the best reason to have a meter, imo. No one argues when the alarm goes off -- they just clear the field and wait for the "all clear."

That said, they aren't perfect and will give both false positives and false negatives. The latter is more problematic, so we must use some common sense -- I've stopped games even when the meter hasn't gone off.

A few weeks ago on a Saturday night, I was working a men's softball game in a park where there was also a couple of LL games going on - one softball, one baseball. The forecast already had t-storm and tornado watches, and you could see in the west/northwest darkening skies.

Sure enough, about the 3rd inning, I hear distant thunder I keep going, as it was very distant, but was definitely keeping an ear out, and an eye open. After another 10/15 minutes, I heard thunder much closer, and cleared the field. I had to explain to one team the 30/30 concept (the other team actually had a fellow school softball ump on it, so they KNEW), and waited...BAM...more thunder....a little closer...I look over to the LL fields...and the idiots are still playing! After another five minutes, and a little more thunder, and even a touch of a distant flash, I actually trudged over - in full plate gear - to the concession stand, and sitting on the counter was a little tiny detector. I actually asked the lady at the stand why the heck they were still playing. She said she was wondering too. I told her the only detectors I need was here - pointing to my eyes and ears. So she started calling for somebody in charge, as I walked away, and they finally stopped play. Meanwhile, me and my partner both figured out that this game (and the one after - a DH), was simply not going to happen, so we we called it. Sure enough, as soon as I had taken my gear off, and driven up the road about five minutes - BAM! - a DELUGE - with multiple lightning flashes.

The whole point of this story is that, no matter what technology you want to trust, your eyes and ears (and experience)are almost always better tools to use - just like during a game!

[UmpJM]

In a neighboring town a number of years back, two coaches were struck by lightning in the outfield of a field AFTER the 30 minutes from the last thunder/lightning. One of them died a few days later and the other recovered and is fine. I've met him. That league's policy now is at the first sign of lightning/thunder, you bang the game and go home.

I do not mess with lightning. First sight of lightning or sound of thunder, I clear the field and start the 30 minute count.

More and more of the fields around here have (collar counties around Chicago) lightning detection systems, with the Thorguard system the most prevalent. It measures the potential for a strike, rather than detecting actual stikes. I have been at some fields with the latter type of system.

Regardless, I agree with ASA/NYSSOBLUE's point that they are not a substitute for your eys, ears, and brain.

I was working a Colt league game a couple of years ago, and it was overcast and "threatening" from the get go. Got through the 1st game, and about the 3rd inning of the 2nd, I thought I might have heard thunder. The field was about a mile from an interstate in a rural area and sometimes when an empty semi hits a bump, it makes a sound kind of like ditant thunder. I checked the sky & started listening more closely. A minute later, I heard what I was sure was thunder.

I immediately called time. And started to announce that the game was suspended and I was clearing the field. The fans are moaning, the coaches start trying to talk me into continuing because "the lightning system hasn't gone off" and they point to it, right on the roof of the concession stand. I tell them I heard thunder and was suspending the game and clearing the field.

Before the next word could get out of their mouths, the damn thing went off. It was fun to see the look on their faces.

We cleared the field & just about the time everybody had gotten in their cars, the skies opened.

Sometimes you get lucky.

JM

[MD Longhorn]

I would agree and disagree with this...

If your eyes and ears tell you there's lightning and thunder, and the detector doesn't - stop the game.

If your detector tells you there's lightning, and your eyes don't... stop the game.

[Rcichon]

Our league mandates this:
Hear it, clear it.
See it, flee it.

30 minute clock on hearing thunder. Next one withing 30 minutes: go home.
See lightning, go home.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by Rcichon

Our league mandates this:
Hear it, clear it.
See it, flee it.

30 minute clock on hearing thunder. Next one withing 30 minutes: go home.
See lightning, go home.

I don't understand why you wait if you hear it, but go home if you see it. Depending on the amount of daylight and the direction, you can sometimes hear thunder when you can't see lightning, and you can sometimes see lightning when you can't hear the thunder.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Rcichon

Our league mandates this:
Hear it, clear it.
See it, flee it.

30 minute clock on hearing thunder. Next one withing 30 minutes: go home.
See lightning, go home.

That's a little bizarre, implying that visual lightning is somehow more real or more threatening than just hearing it... you know that if you hear thunder, the lightning exists somewhere - just as much as if you saw it. It isn't like thunder is a precursor to lightning or a lightning warning as such... it's the same thing.

[johnnyg08]

at the point of impact, the lightning happens first, the sound is secondary. so if you hear thunder, there's already lightning somewhere (which I know all of you know)