Is your car really a safe place to be in a thunder storm?
478069
It is safer to be in your car than outside. \nUnder a tree is especially bad.\n\nThe reasons are because of the metal skin AND because of the tires:\n\n\nThe metal skin for the Faraday cage effect mentioned above.\n\nThe tires because they provide some, but not complete, insulation from the ground. The voltage drop (hence voltage difference) on the surface of the ground can be a typical *10,000 Volts/meter in the neighborhood of a lightning strike!!! I wouldn't want to be standing on that!\n\nThings that aren't grounded are much more likely to get hit.\nThus lightning rods, the use of which has been largely replaced by the (equipotential) grounding plane of your home's electrical system. The top wire in transmission lines is grounded for exactly this reason. (you can tell because it will not have the visible porcelain insulators). Your phone lines and cable lines are grounded as well to reduce their ability to communicate the transient voltages and to eliminate static build up relative to ground (which attracts lightning).\n\nSo in essence, you would want to be grounded to prevent a lightning strike from hitting you, but in case it did hit nearby, you would want to be insulated from the ground.\n\nA car would not be nearly as good as a house, and you would want to shut off your electronics, and not touch any metal, or be close to metal. Which would be tough to do in a car.\n\nIf i was in a wicked 'night of the Huntsman' thunderstorm and  i didn't have a house or car to hide in, i would go to the middle of an open field or ditch and ball up with the least contact to the ground as possible.
657063
Yes, I have given out many traffic tickets in a variety of bad weather scenarios over my career. Likewise, I have stopped and warned many drivers for their actions in bad weather also.
577383
Having been in the path of a direct hit by Hurricane Claudette on July 15, 2003, I have to say that I'm not so sure about hanging around for something like that again.  The house I live in made it through Hurricane Carla in 1961 packing winds (COMING ASHORE) of 165 mph.  I now figure if it's barely a hurricane of say 74-80 mph, a category one, I will probably stay.  That doesn't mean I won't be scared as hell, but something of that size going North or South of here isn't going to cause me to leave.  We were blindsided by Hurricane Claudette sneaking up the coast overnight and caught EVERYBODY "with their pants down" so to say.  That was probably the scariest thing I've ever been witness to in my 43 years on this planet.  The wind was screaming past my front door right at 100 mph.  Had I known that was on the way we would have got the hell out of here.  One tornado took out huge trees right next door, while I only had to replace about five shingles.  That tornado went right over the house while I was putting all 240 pounds of me on the front door trying to close it.  The whistling was like screaming banshees.  The wind was howling.  I mean literally howling.  It still scares me to think about it. For most of my life I wondered what it would be like to ride out a hurricane.  Now I know.  Will I leave or ride it out?  Chances are pretty good I'm outta here.  Many "old-timers" and idiots thought they could ride out another hurricane.  Many of those "old-timers" and idiots didn't make through to tell us all about it.  Don't be an idiot.  Listen to your common sense and watch the advisories.  If this message helps to save your life or someone else's, then I haven't typed this in vain.  Good luck.
304804
I'm in Hampton Roads, VA and we're having one of those gorgeous Spring thunderstorms.  My apartment complex is real junk so none of the gutters work very well and water is overflowing and shooting everywhere.  Of course all the trees are a really nice soft green color, I think because we had a unfortunately mild Winter.  It's so dark, but the lightning is hard to see through all this rain; however, there's some really excellent thunder.
461908
We are having bad storms tomorrow too so a few things I would do is make sure you have an area to hide, clean and ready, have shoes ready, and have a radio or t.v. ready to find out information...
424619
a good surge suppressor is what you need. Can you be sure to be home for every storm?
231706
i never sleep better than when its raining outside, my husband is the same way.  we watch every storm come in and go out.  once we put on snomobile helmets so we could stand outside in hail.  silly, huh?
367010
Actually 50% of all lightning fatalities occur inside the house when people talk on the telephone, take a shower or are in contact with any other conductors while lightning strikes their home.  I personally would not count on the surge protector to save my life, I would just shut down the computer, stay away from all electrical and just read a book until the storm has passed.  Remember, lightning is the number 2 weather killer in the US each year (73 deaths) just surpassed by flash floods.
624019
The tires have nothing to do with it, between the dirt and moisture on the outside of the tires and the metal belting inside the tires, the rubber won't insulate you.  However, since the frame of the car is metal and forms an unbroken 'cage' of sorts around you, most likely the electricity will flow through the metal around you and into the ground.  This assumes that the doors are shut and you don't touch the metal parts of the frame that you can reach from inside the car.  Then again, lightning is unpredictable and often behaves strangely, so almost anything is possible.
583893
Yeah! I love em. I'm a weather freak. I'll stand outside until it starts hailing hard or I'm gonna get struck by lightning. But if they're at night when I'm trying to sleep, and I can't see much, it's not so fun. Especially if hail is hitting your window with 60 mph wind gusts. when I get out on my own, I wanna be a storm spotter
401412
As I understand it, the metal takes the hit of the lightening and the key to your safety is to avoid touching any metal attached to the base of the car while the lightening strike is active.\n\nI certainly hope I'll never have any cause to find out whether my understanging is correct!
1097747
i wouldnt run against a unsafe car period.if its not safe to run on a track then im sure as hell aint gonna run it on the street.
464399
Get a weather radio if your town doesn't already have weather warning sirens.  If a Tornado Warning is given, get in the basement of your home or your most internal room without windows.\n\nIf you're in a trailer or car, GET OUT and get yourself in a ditch and hold on.  That train sound isn't a train.
923031
very, i lost everything in my computer once because of lightning. if you're sure to unplug your computer whenever theres a storm coming, you should be alright
480840
not necessarily. maybe the rain and t-storms calm u down. my mom sometimes rolls down the window like that as long as it aint raining too hard. my sister too, but not me, i keep everything shut down during a t-storm just for safety. but if doing what u do makes u calm then keep doing so. we all have diff. ways of calming down. rain can be calming too :-)
270977
Oh, I love it!  I'm a Texan too and I know what you mean about the good ol' fashioned thunderstorm.  \n\nI'm a SKYWARN storm spotter and I do sometimes look forward to a good ringtailed roarer to blow through and stir up some excitement.  I don't even mind a little small hail beating a staccato rhythm on my roof as long as my car's put up.  Too often, though, it dumps way too much rain all at once or pops out a tornado or kicks out big ol' boulders.  Yeah, I gotta report it. I'm glad to be able to volunteer for this but so often the S hits the fan in the wee hours.  It kinda bums sometimes when my radio tones out and I have to get out of bed, hit the radar and the radios (3 at once-- NOAA Weatheradio, the local 2-meter ham frequency and a UHF rig) AND broadcast.  Forget it-- I might as well have me a big ol' glass of tea or a pot of coffee!  \n\nBut heck yeah. I love thunderstorms!!   Seen a few tornadoes, too.  Now THOSE are scary but spellbinding...
1106354
Do an improper jump start to the vehicle...meaning you'd probably be frying two cars, the shock through the metal part may be a little tricky, but that would fry the electric system with people safely in the  car...