Commuting - Commuting and Thundershowers

I'm trying to get into daily commuting here in South Florida and am wondering what to do with the regular thundershowers which we get most days during the mid to late afternoons. The rain doesn't bother me - I'm from New England. The lightning is starting to give me pause. Any ideas out there?

There are several threads about this, from what I hear its harder for lightning to hit something that is moving. Also, if your next to something that is taller than you it'll hit that, but your in Florida so I don't know if that is always the case.

Lately here in texas it is lightning fever. I really try to leave in between storm cells if possible because I'd rather not be out there but I've ridden through it some. My wife would rather drive all the way to my work and pick me up then drop me off the following day. So sometimes I'll just drive even though it isn't any safer.
My only other option is a fiberglass car which doesnt' really offer any more protection but gets me home a few minutes earlier so I'm at less risk I guess.

I'm also in Florida, and the thunderstorms are practically a daily occurence. The best thing you can do is be flexible with leaving in the afternoon/evening. Usually 30 minutes earlier or later will make all the difference. The really intense cells don't last very long.

Also, thunderstorms don't always mean ground strikes, so I don't let the rumbly cloud to cloud stuff (like I hear right now) bother me. But I would wait out an active thunderstorm with ground strikes. On the plus side I've been commuting in Orlando for 3 years now and have never had to ask for a ride home.

Interesting comment on the fiberglass car. My three vehicles are the bicycle, a motorcycle, and an old convertible Corvette. It probably wouldn't be too good to get struck by lightning in any of those.

I watch the radar for storms and sneak between 'em. I commute in the city, though, so in a pinch I can pretty much always get under cover. If I had a long commute in the country, I'd probably be a lot less casual about it.

Workmate of mine was hit by lightning on the way home, many years ago.

He survived with an overnight hospital stay.

His name was Alan Crisp

Thanks for the comments. So far last night I left work ~30 min. early to beat the possible next thundershower. I've tried the radar to time and map my commute but since its 16 miles each way its a little hard to predict. (I ended up soaked which I don't mind.)

I watch the radar for storms and sneak between 'em.

+1 We getting them alot here in NC and I time my exit watching the local doppler radar. Time to leave............Now!

Same here in NC. I watch the radar like a hawk when it gets close to the end of the day. Sometimes I'll leave earlier or later than usual to avoid the storms. Several times storms have blown up within minutes right over the part of town where I work shortly before I'm ready to leave. I've been able to avoid the storms, other than some wet pavement, by delaying my departure by 15-20 minutes. Other days I've left 15 minutes early. Leaving early or late isn't generally a problem for me because I get to work so early and usually don't leave for lunch.

I also have a bailout option -- which so far I haven't had to use -- if a particularly large storm hits and looks like it will last a while. In that case, I've got several coworkers who I can ask for rides home. If that doesn't work, I can always call my wife to come get me, or just wait out the storm. However, I'm not about to head home on my bike during a severe storm with lots of lightning. I don't care what the odds are of getting hit, it just doesn't make sense to me.

Definitely. Your more likely to get plowed by some guy with dry-rotted windshield wipers than struck by lightning.

Yeah I got a nice zap when some lightning hit nearby a few weeks ago.

Some things I learned from that....


ODI Lock-on Grips are NOT a good thing when commuting in a thunderstorm (the lockring my hand was over is missing some plating now).

black rubber still contains a high carbon content.

when you see 4-5 thunderstrikes super close to you, get indoors or under shelter asap.

i've been wondering if the rubber in tires would be enough insulation? not that it's worth the risk to find out, but i remember safety demonstrations in school that talked about car accidents and downed live wires and that you could be ok as long as you didn't touch the ground?

ten years ago i found myself in switzerland, with 5 others on a little sailboat (only one who really knew how to sail)... and a big thunderstorm started up, but the engine wouldn't... until after several frightening minutes it was realised that it hadn't been switched to "on"... managed to get back to the club where a party was going on and us pulling up all bedraggled and dripping wet... everyone was saying it was the most severe storm they'd had in years... *tsk tsk*

edit: lol looks like my question was being answered as i typed!

I was just down if Fla. a couple of weeks ago. It seems that most of your T-storms are fast movers w/ a lot of lightning and short, hard downpours. I'd scope out cover points along your route ie; bridges, pavillions, buildings, etc to ride out a storm. I hate riding in lightning storms (I think Fla. is #1 for cloud/ground lightening strikes in the U.S.) and would rather park under one of the many bridges on my commute than risk it, remember that lightning strikes are rarely direct (they don't have to hit a moving target), rather they radiate out from other objects struck.

i've been wondering if the rubber in tires would be enough insulation? not that it's worth the risk to find out, but i remember safety demonstrations in school that talked about car accidents and downed live wires and that you could be ok as long as you didn't touch the ground?

The safety in a car isn't from the rubber tires insulating you from the ground, it's from the skin effect, which causes the lightning to travel around the car's exterior but not the interior, even if you're touching metal on the interior. There's a demonstration of this effect that they do with this enormous van de graff generator at the Museum of Science in Boston, where a person stands inside what's basically a giant metal birdcage and runs their hands along the insides of the bars while these giant bolts of artificially produced lightning strike the outside of the bars. Sure convinced me. But, anyway, to return to the original question, what makes a car relatively safe from electrical whatsis does not obtain with a bicycle.

Yeah, the bike will transfer electricity as I learned.

Bike Tires still have carbon in them, which is electrically conductive. Graphite is one form of carbon, and anyone who has ever used a pencil as an electrical conduit in science class knows that it can transfer electrcity well enough.

If you are familiar with electro-static discharge, those exact theories apply in regards to lightning strikes....just the spark is many times more powerful.

My understanding is that a material's ability to conduct / insulate is not absolute. With the power that a lighting strike puts out the material the bike is made out of will not make a great difference. Cars protect by guiding the electricity around the outside of the vehicle to the ground.

The summertime pattern is usually predictable. The storms usually hit us, about 10 miles from the west coast, in the early afternoon. Of course there are times when the pattern is disrupted. The thunderstorms usually don't last real long. It is worth delaying the commute a little to be safe, plus it is really hard for cars to see you in a downpour.

Lightning is nothing to play around with. My neighbor's house over the hill burned to the ground last year due a strike. When I was younger, one of my schoolmates was struck by lightning while riding a small tractor (no cab). He survived but was knocked unconscious and had a damaged shoulder. I don't think you would be safe on a bicycle.

I check the radar and see if waiting a few minutes will let the cell pass. But in general I don't worry too much about it. Take any given tree along the side of the road; it's many times higher than you, has an excellent ground, yet may live 50 years through hundreds of thunderstorms and never get hit. IMHO the odds are you'll get hit by a car long before you get hit by lightning.

As for insulation; the lightning is jumping 1/4 mile of air gap; do you think an inch of rubber is going to slow it down?