The BGP high school football weather forecasts will be returning for the upcoming season. The first forecast for opening night will be posted soon. :thumb:

Thank you, us Friday night football folks appreciate it.

It's all about the lightning. I saw games halted and postponed last year because someone saw lightning way off in the distance. I know safety first, but if you can see lightning should a game be stopped? What if it is heat lightning and you can't even hear thunder from it?

It's all about the lightning. I saw games halted and postponed last year because someone saw lightning way off in the distance. I know safety first, but if you can see lightning should a game be stopped? What if it is heat lightning and you can't even hear thunder from it?

 

There's no such thing as heat lighting.

 

If you can hear thunder, you can be struck by lightning.

There's no such thing as heat lighting.

 

If you can hear thunder, you can be struck by lightning.

 

So if you can't hear thunder, play on?

So if you can't hear thunder, play on?

 

It's a judgement call. I'd tend to be more cautious in those situations. It's not worth the risk.

It's all about the lightning. I saw games halted and postponed last year because someone saw lightning way off in the distance. I know safety first, but if you can see lightning should a game be stopped? What if it is heat lightning and you can't even hear thunder from it?

 

Lightning can travel many miles from a thunderstorm. Blue lightning is when lightning strikes out of blue sky because of thunderstorm in distance. If you can see it, then definitely could be struck by it.

It's a judgement call. I'd tend to be more cautious in those situations. It's not worth the risk.

 

Doing some google research, lightning can be visible 100 miles away. Risk is very low of being struck if the lightning is 10 miles or more away. Thunder travels 10 miles. Based on all that, I would tend to rely on thunder more than lightning when it comes to stopping sports action. What type of instruction do referees get on how to make this call?

Doing some google research, lightning can be visible 100 miles away. Risk is very low of being struck if the lightning is 10 miles or more away. Thunder travels 10 miles. Based on all that, I would tend to rely on thunder more than lightning when it comes to stopping sports action. What type of instruction do referees get on how to make this call?

 

I would assume every association is different on how they determine when to stop a game.

Doing some google research, lightning can be visible 100 miles away. Risk is very low of being struck if the lightning is 10 miles or more away. Thunder travels 10 miles. Based on all that, I would tend to rely on thunder more than lightning when it comes to stopping sports action. What type of instruction do referees get on how to make this call?

 

Games I’ve been to, they restart the delay clock every time they hear thunder.

Games I’ve been to, they restart the delay clock every time they hear thunder.

 

Yes, and that makes sense to me. If you hear thunder, you are close enough to lightning to be hit by it.

Lightning can actually strike from the center of a storm upwards of around 20 miles away. The motto of the National Weather Service is, "When Thunder roars, go indoors."

 

I can remember a time when my oldest son was playing little league baseball. His team was practicing and we stopped for a storm and went into the concession stand. Lightning struck the fence right close to where we were.

As a former khsaa baseball/softball umpire, this is one rule that is stressed to the max. Thunder or lighting seen or heard,30 minute delay, if ten minutes into the first 30, clock starts over, that is the reason so many games gets canceled, it can become very late before it stops.

https://khsaa.org/sportsmedicine/lightning/khsaalightningpolicy.pdf