Lightning Safety and Hazard Risk Assessment for Division One College Football

Details

• Journal Title:
  Weather, Climate, and Society
• Personal Author:
  Jeffries, Ivy ; Calhoun, Kristin M. ; Hunt, Emily ; Ringhausen, Jacquelyn
• NOAA Program & Office:
  OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CIWRO (Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations) ; NSSL (National Severe Storms Laboratory)
• Description:
  Lightning often remains an underrecognized natural hazard to the general public. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One college football games attract thousands of people, yet lightning safety regulations remain underdeveloped. To better understand the vulnerability and actions of college football spectators, we developed and distributed a survey to attendees on college game days at the University of Oklahoma. The survey addressed factors possibly influencing decisions and spectators’ intended response to lightning threats. Results show that females, those having previous negative experiences with lightning, and less knowledgeable individuals experience greater lightning anxiety. Approximately one-third of respondents chose to evacuate when lightning was between 6 and 10 mi away, matching commonly recommended distance thresholds. However, more people were likely to wait to evacuate when lightning was closer than recommended rather than further away. National Lightning Detection Network cloud-to-ground (CG) data were used to assess the risk of lightning as a hazard during college football season. CG lightning is most common during afternoon standard college football game times and at stadiums near the Gulf Coast. However, individual stadiums may be more climatologically favorable earlier in the day compared to later in the evening. Additionally, CG counts vary at individual stadiums due to the impact of urban locations and individual storm modes. Lightning risk communication should accurately explain threats from lightning without inducing fear in the general public. We recommend improving NCAA lightning risk communication campaigns to explicitly describe the dangers lightning poses to large, outdoor college football stadiums and encourage stadiums to communicate risk with stadium attendees well before an evacuation is needed.
• Source:
  Weather, Climate, and Society, 17(3), 461-477
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-24-0068.1
• ISSN:
  1948-8327 ; 1948-8335
• Format:
  pdf
• Publisher:
  American Meteorological Society
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Rights Information:
  Other
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:21ee5bfc84b557260a2cc3b9174f0530a7f202ebd8c1e6249e73cc947e2a3e6111bcbd15966574dd89cf0fce3aebcb6e27a2b835aaa4f81f94b2a0195ae39b84
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/71816/noaa_71816_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 24.61 MB ]