# Watch out for the lightning
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 27, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191 "2014-07-27T23:12:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/1 "2014-07-27T23:12:04Z")
[Nine people struck by lightning today.](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lightning-strikes-storms-southern-california-20140727-story.html)
People in L.A. just don’t know how to walk when there’s lightning.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/2 "2014-07-27T23:21:51Z")
“How to walk when there’s lightning” sounds like it should be a Monty Python skit.
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/3 "2014-07-28T00:56:07Z")
You’re supposed to zig zag right?
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/4 "2014-07-28T01:06:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> “How to walk when there’s lightning” sounds like it should be a Monty Python skit.
Number 1: The Bolt. The…Bolt. 🙂
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### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/5 "2014-07-28T02:52:56Z")
Holy crap. I live in the Valley (about 20 miles away) and it’s been bright & sunny all day. Talk about freakish.
For what it’s worth, thunder & lightning are quite rare in So-Cal – we only get a real lightning storm about once every five years.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/6 "2014-07-28T03:28:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> **(CNN)** – A sunny day at California’s famed Venice Beach took a dark turn Sunday when one person died and a dozen others were injured after a rare lightning strike.
> John Kades with the Los Angeles Coroner’s office told CNN a man in his mid-20’s died at Marina Del Rey Hospital after being transported from Venice Beach. It’s too early however to determine if he died as a result of “a lightning strike, drowning, or being trampled by the crowd,” according to Kades.
[http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/27/us/lightning-strike-venice-beach/index.html?hpt=hp\_t2](http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/27/us/lightning-strike-venice-beach/index.html?hpt=hp_t2)
Rule of Thumb - If you can hear thunder, you are at risk.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/7 "2014-07-28T04:32:20Z")
If you hear a sizzle or a loud crackle, not a bang or a boom, you’re really at risk.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/8 "2014-07-28T05:29:09Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> If you hear a sizzle or a loud crackle, not a bang or a boom, you’re really at risk.
Yepper. 😃
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### Author:  [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/9 "2014-07-28T06:38:54Z")
Hey, come on! They probably thought it was some tourist with a flash attachment on his camera. In LA which possibilitry is the more likely?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/10 "2014-07-28T07:08:01Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#):
>
> You’re supposed to zig zag right?
If you \*do \*get struck by lightning, try \*not \*to get struck by lightning.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/11 "2014-07-28T11:10:06Z")
I think the real question is why the people got hit in that particular order.
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### Author:  [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/12 "2014-07-28T12:43:03Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#):
>
> You’re supposed to zig zag right?
Serpentine!
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/13 "2014-07-28T12:47:36Z")
_BE_ the lightning.
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### Author:  [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-out-for-the-lightning/694191/14 "2014-07-28T14:16:01Z")
I know people like to make fun of stupid Angelenos not understanding weather, but this freak storm really came out of nowhere. We were at the airport when it hit and we were like “What the hell? Where did THAT come from!” I suspect the people at the beach had very little warning that they were in danger before the lightning hit. It’s very sad. They guy who was killed was only 20.