lightning

thumpferee

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

Rich Ives

thumpferee wrote
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.

MrUmpire

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

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

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/lightning/lightning_safety.htm

ajjl22

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.

thumpferee

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....?

DG

thumpferee wrote
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.

thumpferee

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

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

DG

thumpferee wrote
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.

thumpferee

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

LOL, thanks for the info!

SAump

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

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

Read OBR 4.10 and 4.12 here, http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/official_rules/04_starting_ending_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. 😛

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, 😉 }. 😀

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

canadaump6

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?

UmpJM

canadaump6 wrote
... 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.

Delaware Blue

canadaump6 wrote
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?

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

MrUmpire

canadaump6 wrote
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?

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.

TussAgee11

canadaump6 wrote
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?

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

ozzy6900

canadaump6 wrote
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?

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?

danreeves1973

http://www.uil.utexas.edu/athletics/health/lightning_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.

canadaump6

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.

danreeves1973

canadaump6 wrote
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.

SanDiegoSteve

canadaump6 wrote
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.

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?