ACYSC GUIDELINES REGARDING LIGHTNING SAFETY

Referees, coaches, and parents must recognize the hazard posed by lightning. ACYSC offers the following guidelines to minimize the risk of serious injury or death due to lightning during games. These are minimum guidelines for the safety of participants and spectators and are not intended to replace good judgement on the part of referees, players, or spectators.

1. Referees should inform participants and spectators when a thunderstorm watch is in effect and that play will be suspended at the first visible stroke of lighting. All participants and attendees at ACYSC games should recognize the closest safe structures in advance of any game. Safe structures include the nearest school building, a complete enclosure, or a fully enclosed metal vehicle with windows tightly closed. Press boxes, sheds, storage buildings, or dugouts will not provide adequate protection.

2. ACYSC utilizes the flash-to-bang method of measuring of lightning distance as it approaches. Using this method, one counts the seconds from seeing the stroke to hearing the thunder. For each 5-second count, lightning is 1 mile away. So, at 25 seconds the strike is 5 miles away; at 20 seconds the strike is 4 miles away. While a flash-to-bang interval of 20 seconds may be safe, all ACYSC games will be suspended at the first visible stroke of lighting.

3. For all ACYSC games, the referee’s whistle and verbal command will be the method by which the game is suspended and the referee’s judgement shall not be questioned.

4. Once suspended for lightning, ACYSC games will not be resumed until a minimum of 30 minutes has passed from the last nearby lightning strike.

5. Resources: http://lightningsafety.com; http://www.nws.noaa.gov 

*this info was originally found on LVYSL's website as well as Lanco's website.