My family has had a vacation/weekend house on a lake for a few years. One of my daughters has made our LSC's open water zones team. That meet is this weekend in Chattanooga. Weather is a threat - first race is late Friday, others are Saturday and Sunday mornings.
So my question is how you determine when to get out of the water or call off an event? In a pool, generally, if you hear thunder, you get out (and having had a tree in my yard get hit 10 minutes before the rain fell, I get why). However, on large bodies of water, the sound can carry so far, I'm wondering how you determine when you get out? During one weekend last Summer, we got out at the lakehouse when we heard thunder, but our neighbors just ignored it and kept on swimming. I'm guessing we were over cautious, and while I don't want to take chances, during this time of year, we can go on for hours upon hours hearing thunder, and never get hit. So I hate to waste any of the few days we get. Obviously, I'm also wondering what to expect for this weekend, primarily the Friday night race.
If you ever find the answer to your question, I'd love to hear it. I did a literature search one time and could find no deaths of lightning in water (some cases around water). I would think if you had a near miss, the lightning would go right through you as you are not grounded. It seems you would find more dead fish or sea animals in a lake after lightning. I guess nobody wants to mess with it, but I wonder if you are safer in water (I know, dumb).
If you ever find the answer to your question, I'd love to hear it. I did a literature search one time and could find no deaths of lightning in water (some cases around water). I would think if you had a near miss, the lightning would go right through you as you are not grounded. It seems you would find more dead fish or sea animals in a lake after lightning. I guess nobody wants to mess with it, but I wonder if you are safer in water (I know, dumb).
