Lightning/Thunder Delay

[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)

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by 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)

Technically untrue, but the point is the same. If you hear it, it exists somewhere.

(At "the point of impact", or more correctly at the point where the discharge originates, the light and sound occur simultaneously. As you increase distance from this point, the difference between light and sound becomes more apparent, as the speed of light is way faster than the speed of sound, and much of the sound is echo, not initial, sound.)

[scarolinablue]

On the topic, I have a game management question. Sitch: Working an American Legion game last week. "Threatening" skies to begin with, and with the visitors coming out for the bottom of the first, a nasty bolt threaded across the right field sky - about 12 seconds to the thunderclap, so only about 2-3 miles away. I cleared the field. We spend the next 75 minutes waiting out a lightning delay - looking at radar, we were right on the edge of a huge, slow-moving storm, but didn't get more than a couple of drops of rain. However, the lightning was always within a couple of miles.

Eventually, the storm wrapped around us and the bottom fell out, and we finally called the game. The problem I had was this - I had cleared the field due to the lightning. After about 30 minutes, and no rain, but the lightning threat was still there, the players (and some coaches) started trickling back onto the field - throwing, playing pepper, and generally horsing around. There was no way I would have allowed this to happen if I were the coach, and expressed this to the GM, and was waved off. This did not sit well with me, but I let it go, and prayed like crazy nobody got hit by lightning. In hindsight, I will not allow teams to go back on the field if at all possible, but I felt somewhat powerless once I had suspended the game, and was met with indifference by game management. What would you do in this situation?

[johnnyg08]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Technically untrue, but the point is the same. If you hear it, it exists somewhere.

(At "the point of impact", or more correctly at the point where the discharge originates, the light and sound occur simultaneously. As you increase distance from this point, the difference between light and sound becomes more apparent, as the speed of light is way faster than the speed of sound, and much of the sound is echo, not initial, sound.)

Interesting. Thanks