Would you run through a lightning storm without shoes?

[hsmamato2]

Why would having shoes on make any difference? That little bit of sole between you and the ground is not going to stop any sort of electricity and it doesn't ground you either.

Um....yeah that! with or without shoes,it could kill you.....bit of actual fact here.....(as learned at Boston Museum of Science lightning labs) the rubber on your shoe soles would have to be approx. 1 mile thick to protect you if struck by lightning.
So I don't know....lightning can be scary,I usually just wait if I can.......

 

[hsmamato2]

on the other hand....as other pp's have noted,the odds are pretty slim of getting struck.....so,I might just run for it if it didn't let up....but I'd take my shoes off,so I didn't trip

 

[GeorgeG]

Being a tenderfoot, I don't go barefoot anywhere outdoors except the pool or beach, and they are not places to be in a thunderstorm.

I'm guessing the people who took their shoes off probably did so to avoid ruining their shoes running through puddles. No shoes will be enough insulation against a lightning strike. Lightning routinely destroys power equipment insulated for thousands of volts.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

It would depend upon the quality of my shoes. Personally, all my shoes are cheap, but if I did, for instance, own a pair of $200 pumps...then yes, I would take them off to run through the rain.

 

[LisaR]

While I don't think I'd run in a lightening storm with or without shoes, if it was storming and the rain was puddled a few inches deep on the road/street/ground I would take my shoes off so they wouldn't get soaked.

I prefer not to have my dress shoes soaked through.

Trust me, your shoes would be soaking wet even if they weren't on you. None of these people had umbrellas to protect their shoes. It was pouring. They were going to be soaked from head to toe with or without shoes, running or walking. It didn't matter.

For those that are assuming they were removing their shoes because they had on heals which were harder to run in, I would say the vast majority were not in heals. Have you seen the way people dress for the theater nowadays? Add to that that this is FL were flip flops are considered dress shoes and you'll understand why there were very few heals in the mix.

After reading some of the links, I now see that the rubber sole would do very little to protect you. However, I still think it is pretty stupid to run through a parking lot, with or without shoes, during a horrible lightning storm. Running did nothing. They were soaking wet when they got to their cars. If they were pulling around to pick up the rest of their party, they ended up sitting in 20 minutes worth of traffic and the storm had greatly decreased by that point. And the old lady with the walker? Why?? Why not just wait it out? On a good day her chances of breaking a hip are probably pretty strong. Last night, she was taking a pretty big chance. No idea what happened to her and hopefully she made it to where she was going safely.

If I lived in fear of getting hit by lightning I wouldn't leave the house in the morning. There are much greater risks that we face every single day than getting struck by lightning.

I'm kind of a "go with the odds" kind of person. I have as much chance of getting hit by lightning as I do winning the lottery. It's so low that I don't buy lottery tickets and I don't fear being struck by lightning.

I don't know anyone that fears getting hit by lightning everytime they leave the house. There was a MAJOR storm taking place at that exact moment. Your odds of getting struck by lightning are exponentially higher during a lightning storm than on a non-stormy day, no? Your odds of falling in the pouring rain are higher when it is dark and the visibility is low. And your odds of getting in a car accident (and there were many last night) increase significantly in that type of weather. While I don't hole up in my house in fear, I can certainly see that those conditions would increase risk factors and I would take precautions.

 

[sbell111]

I can only think of two times in my entire life that I was truly concerned about getting hit by lightning. The first time, my squad was on high ground with full gear hunkered down in an intense storm. The second time, I felt the need to go to my car which was on the top deck of a parking garage during a similar storm. Both times, my fear was not related to the shoes that I wore. It was related to the fact that I was at high ground.

At street level in an urban envrionment (or in WDW), I have no such fear because my odds of getting hit by lightning in such a target rich environment are about zero. Therefore, I might certainly decide to make for an exit at such a time, mostly depending solely on our schedule and whether I felt that the storm would pass quickly.

As for shoes, generally I would leave them on. However, if the shoes were very expensive or I needed to be wearing them for the rest of the day, I can totally see myself taking them off. Wet shoes are not going to save you from 1.21 gigawatts, after all.

 

[Stitchfans]

I wouldn't run in a lightning storm with or without shoes on.

Me either. I would just stay put inside.

 

[Talking Hands]

Having lived in Florida for the last 37 years I would not be running anywhere with or without shoes in a lightening storm. In fact, if we hear thunder we head inside until it passes. Lightening is nothing to play with.

 

[eduk8r26]

Two summers ago we were stuck in a public restroom in Virginia Beach in one of the worst thunder and lightning storms I have ever experienced. I was not about to dash out to my car in that. When it starts lightning, I don't go anywhere!

 

[cluvsdisney]

While I don't think I'd run in a lightening storm with or without shoes, if it was storming and the rain was puddled a few inches deep on the road/street/ground I would take my shoes off so they wouldn't get soaked.

I prefer not to have my dress shoes soaked through.

This is along the lines of what I was thinking. I would most likely wait it out a bit but if I had to go and was getting into my own car, I would take off my shoes they wouldn't get soaked/ruined.

 

[meanpc]

I keep seeing people say that an inch of rubber isn't going to stop millions of volts. That's true, but not the real idea. The more grrounded you are, the more of a target you are in the first place.

Is it really true that the person with gigaohms of resistance to earth ground is just as likely to be struck as the person with close to 0 ohms? I don't think so. Two people are standing next to eachother, one barefoot and one with shoes. A bolt of lightning is coming down, right in between them. Which one will the lightning be more likely to strike?

 

[sbell111]

I keep seeing people say that an inch of rubber isn't going to stop millions of volts. That's true, but not the real idea. The more grrounded you are, the more of a target you are in the first place.

Is it really true that the person with gigaohms of resistance to earth ground is just as likely to be struck as the person with close to 0 ohms? I don't think so. Two people are standing next to eachother, one barefoot and one with shoes. A bolt of lightning is coming down, right in between them. Which one will the lightning be more likely to strike?

In a rainstorm, I suspect that the difference between the two would be virtually non-existent.

In the OP's example, the lightning is much more likely to strike the building than the person running to his/her car from the building.

 

[luvmy3]

I keep seeing people say that an inch of rubber isn't going to stop millions of volts. That's true, but not the real idea. The more grrounded you are, the more of a target you are in the first place.

Is it really true that the person with gigaohms of resistance to earth ground is just as likely to be struck as the person with close to 0 ohms? I don't think so. Two people are standing next to eachother, one barefoot and one with shoes. A bolt of lightning is coming down, right in between them. Which one will the lightning be more likely to strike?

Whoever is tallest. Always travel with taller people during a storm.

 

[Ilivetogo]

Saw a play tonight and as it ended, we were greeted by a horrible storm. It was raining pretty hard but the lightning was horrendous. People were gathered near the doors either waiting it out or waiting for someone from their party to pull up in their car.

But some didn't want to wait and made a run for it. I stood there and watched dozens of people take their shoes off and run through the parking lot. Most were female but there were a few males. These were all adults from their 20's to their 80's. There was a little old lady with a walker going through the parking lot without shoes! DH said all she needed was some aluminum foil and she would divert the lightning from the rest of us. They actually sent out a theater worker who "highly suggested" that people leave their shoes on.

The news just said there were 20,000 lightning strikes!

Am I the only one who won't run though a lightning storm in bare feet?

No.

I like what the PP said ... not unless a T-rex was chasing me.

Lightning = dangerous stuff
.

 

[Feralpeg]

One thing to keep in mind is that the lightening doesn't have to strike you to badly hurt you. Last week here, a woman got out of a golf cart to take a shot. There was no obvious lightening in the area. A bolt hit a nearby tree. It knocked the woman down and another man further away. There were people in the golf cart who were not injured. The woman was bleeding from the nose and mouth and could not feel her legs. She was taken to the hospital in satisfactory condition. The man, was further away and not badly injured.

The lightening that hit the tree carried through the ground to the underground sprinkler system and blew out the control unit some distance away. In fact, it melted it.

So, you don't need to be hit to be hurt. If a strike takes place in an area nearby, such as a light pole or tree, the electrical charge can carry to the ground and to you. This is especially true if the ground is wet.

Another assumption that people make is that taller objects in the area will always be the strike point. That isn't true. A person is in danger of being hit even if surrounded by taller objects. I've seen lightening pass huge trees and houses to hit a plastic cable control box that was about three foot tall.

To be safe, just stay inside until the storm passes.

Here are some answers to myths concerning lightening.

http://stormhighway.com/lightning_always_strikes_tallest_object_myth.shtml

 

[disney1990]

I wouldn't run in a lightning storm with or without shoes on.

Absolutely would not run through a lightening storm, period!!!

 

[okeydokey]

Um....yeah that! with or without shoes,it could kill you.....bit of actual fact here.....(as learned at Boston Museum of Science lightning labs) the rubber on your shoe soles would have to be approx. 1 mile thick to protect you if struck by lightning.
So I don't know....lightning can be scary,I usually just wait if I can.......

Love the lightening demonstration at the museum.