ok, this is the second time in the past two weeks I've not been able to go swim due to thunderstorm activity.
Now don't get me wrong.. I LOOOOOVE Thunderstorms, but not being able to swim when you've looked forward to doing so since the previous evening is just no fun at all. :mad:
I was literally out the building and on my way to the Y when an clap of thunder abruptly stopped me in my tracks.. I just turned right around and went back into the building. (and onto the discussion boards of course! lol)
Anyone else go to indoor pools that close during storms? In Oklahoma during spring and early summer it sometimes ends up being like a hail mary to decide to go to practice in hopes that there won't be a storm.:rolleyes:
I find it preposterous to think the electricity from a lightning strike would pass from the earth (ground) to the pipes and then back into the earth.
I JUSt sent a message about this ot the folks i coach. The indoor pool closes, yes it's ridiculous.
Much higher risk of being on the phone, yet do you think the the sales people will stay off the phone during a lightning storm? That's rhetorical.
If the pool is closed, the showers should also be closed for the same reasons the pool is closed. They don't close the showers either.
I know the (indoor) pool where I swim makes the age group swimmers get out during thunderstorms. I haven't been swimming long enough to know if it's a general rule or just for the kids. The way summers are in NC, I should find out any day now!!
I was a lifeguard at both an indoor pool and an outdoor pool. And the rules were farily similary to both regarding lighting. Indoor pools would get hit just like any other building and water inside it makes it that much more dangerous. Anytime we would see lighting we would time it from the time we saw it for 10-15 mintues. Every time another one would come we would start the time over again until the storm passed or if there wasn't any more lighting but still raining and such. This was the same with the outdoor pool. Two totally different places, so I don't know if it's writtin down somewhere if that's what you should do or if that was a coincoidence (sp). Tis for your safety only.
Kelli,
One indoor pool I swim at yells at us to stay out of the showers when they close the pool. The other one does nothing about the showers. Further proof no one really knows a lick about this topic.
I've experienced thundersnow a time or two. I wonder if they close the pool for that?
Hey Geek...the difference is sitting in an office chair is MUCH different then swimming IN WATER....trust me.....you can get fried big time if lightning hits the indoor pool in the wrong place....
Lightning hit the alum. umbrella that sat on top of the lifeguard chair at the pool I swam at as a kid....the underwater pump room sat just below the lifeguard chair....HAD anyone been in the pump room they would have go nailed for it blew out many of the bolts, pipes etc....
Lightning is NOTHING to mess with....
having said that, Geek, you are right...sometimes they do go a bit overboard closing the pool.....
According to National Athletic Trainers’ Association Position Statement: Lightning Safety for Athletics and Recreation:
Over the past century, lightning has consistently been 1 of the top 3 causes of weather-related deaths in this country. It kills approximately 100 people and injures hundreds more each year.
Lightning casualty statistics from Colorado demonstrate that the most common sites for fatalities were open fields (27%), near trees (16%), and close to water (13%). Statistics from the country as a whole mimic the numbers from Colorado. Open fields, ballparks, and playgrounds accounted for nearly 27% of casualties, and under trees (14%), water related (8%), and golf-related (5%) deaths associated with lightning followed. All these fatalities had 1 common denominator: being near the highest object or being the tallest object in the immediate area. This single factor accounted for 56% of all fatalities from Colorado.
Even though a swimming pool may be indoors and apparently safe, it can be a dangerous location during thunderstorms. The current can be propagated through plumbing and electric connections via the underwater lights and drains of most swimming pools. Lightning current can also enter the building, either into the electric wiring inside the building or through underground plumbing pipelines that enter the building. If lightning strikes the building or ground nearby, the current will most likely follow these pathways to the swimmers through the water. Thus, indoor-pool activities are potentially dangerous and should be avoided during thunderstorms.
Avoid taking showers and using plumbing facilities (including indoor and outdoor pools) and land-line telephones during thunderstorm
Our practice has been shortened 2X this week already. (outdoor pool) Someone stated doubt regarding lightning traveling into a building through water pipes. There have been many accounts of people being hit by lightning while in the shower or bath. It doesn't happen every day but it does happen.
From Aquageek:
I've experienced thundersnow a time or two.
And I have experienced thunderthighs. But that was a long time ago. Goes back to swimmers and beer I reckon.
Jim
Good swimming related forum - my local Y freaks whenever lightning is around too. They will close the indoor pool for 45 minutes after a lightning strike. I don't really know about the procedure for successive strikes after that. Some of my swimming excursions have been thwarted on more than one occasion. If it is clouldy and the chance of a storm arises, I call ahead and ask if they are open then take my chances.
One word of advice to anyone who gets let down at an indoor pool because of lightning, especially at a Y; take along some clothes for getting in some dryland work - treadmill, weights, something.
One 5:30 AM workout with my masters team, we got booted out after about 200 yards of warm up. It was 5:35 AM, what to do? Go home and go back to bed or shower and go to work. Got an extra hour and a half of sleep that day.
Lightning scares me, so if they close and that's the policy, so be it. Live another day and make up the missed workout.
Originally posted by aquageek
When you are caught on a golf course in a bad storm and can't make it back to the clubhouse, ...
According to Lee Trevino: "In case of a thunderstorm, stand in the middle of the fairway and hold up a one iron. Not even God can hit a one iron."
On subject, I've heard that you should get out of and away from the cart, staying on the ground. That makes it taller than you. I'm not willing to put this to the test myself, however!
