The Weather Notebook: Listener Question: Phones & Thunderstorms

Listener Question: Phones & Thunderstorms
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Dave Thurlow, Host

Well, it's listener question day here on The Weather Notebook. Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow. Today's question has to do with phones and lightning:

Norman, Oklahoma June 19, 1980 - NOAA Photo Library
"My name is Mary Anne Saylus and I am calling from Wyoming, PA. I listen to WVIA-FM and my question is this. I was traveling yesterday in a very bad lightning and thunderstorm and I needed to make a phone call to someone...So what I did was went to a stationary phone and called, even though I had a cell phone in the car because I feared maybe the cell phone would have been more dangerous. Is this true or not? I know you're not supposed to use a phone at all, but does a cell phone pose more problems than a regular phone does?"

A great question, because it is bad idea to use a stationary phone during a thunderstorm. So, to see if mobile phones are dangerous to use during a storm, I talked to cellular technology expert Douglas Weiser from St Louis. He's the director of the Cellular Emergency Alert Service Association.

"The problem that they're concerned with with land-lying phones is, even buried cable sometimes in an electrical storm can attract that static charge and it can be transferred through the line to the user. But actually, two very good things; cellular phones have no lines to attract the charge and being in a car is about one of the safest places you can be during a lightning storm. That would have been probably about as chance free as you could get."

Now there is really nothing you can do too absolutely guarantee that you won't be struck by lightning, directly or indirectly, during a strong thunderstorm. But there are some things you could do to all but guarantee that you will get struck. Talking on a cell phone is certainly safe, as long as you're in the car, and not up on a roof holding an umbrella.

Now to ask your weather question, give us a call toll-free at 1-888-RAIN-001 or visit our website at www.weathernotebook.org. The Weather Notebook is funded by Subaru and by the National Science Foundation.