National Lightning Safety Week

Over the past few months on our blog and Facebook page, we've been talking about that various ways you can utilize our outdoor lighting fixtures to help you enjoy the warm summer weather, even when the sun starts to go down. Although we still strongly encourage experiencing the outdoors, we did want to present you with a warning: Be aware of lightning.

The further we get into the warmer months, the more likely there are to be thunderstorms; some of which can become severe. In honor of this being National Lightning Safety Week, we wanted to do our part to give you some lightning safety tips.

1. Listen for thunder. A lot of people don't know this, but if you can hear thunder, you are still close enough to the storm to get struck by lightning. When most people hear thunder, they think they still have some time before they are actually in danger. This is not true. When you hear thunder, get to safety.

2. Avoid tall objects. If you get caught outside in thunderstorm, avoid hiding under tall objects like trees, telephone poles, or metal structures. Lightning is often drawn to the highest object and if you're hiding under the only tree in your yard, you could be in trouble. Try to find a ditch, car, shorter trees and lay down so you are as low to the ground as possible.

3. Split up. If you get caught outdoors with a group of people, make sure you all split up. Lightning has the ability to jump from person to person if they are close enough together. Try to stay within line of sight from one another so you know where everyone is, but still put some distance between you. Also make sure everyone is low to the ground.

4. Get out of the water. If you are swimming, fishing, water skiing, or participating in any other sort of aquatic activity, try to get to dry land immediately after hearing thunder or seeing lightning. Water will act as a conduit for lightning and can send the deadly electrical charge great distances across the water.

Hopefully with these tips you will all have a healthy and happy summer.