Hey all,
Just wanted to get everyone else’s opinion on when you pack up for safety’s sake. We got out to the yard this morning and washed two trucks before I called it because of lightning that didn’t look like it would be stopping until noon. Probably just going to go out tomorrow and finish but it does suck to wake up early and come back home an hour later!
Answers different I guess for everyone… you made the right call though.
My first year I washed in thunderstorms lol
Now if the percentage is above 50 I call the day prior to reschedule.
I don’t wash in rain for the safety of my unit.
30 mile 30 minutes is the best rule of thumb. You can download apps that show you closest strike.
In 92 I was washing sidewalks at our local mall back home and I felt the hair on my neck stand up. It was kind of freaky. I decided I would ride around for a while and let it pass. I got a few miles away and started seeing trees down. It turned out that that an F4 tornado had come through and cleared a path 5 miles long. It was devastating. I saw a mobile home wrapped around the top of a tree. I now have a deep respect for the weather
I’m sure you can buy a lightning detector. When I coached football, we used one that detected when the strikes were within a certain distance so we knew when to cancel practice or postpone/delay games.
The Weather Bug App has a lightning indicator. It will show you the closest strikes within the past 15 min or so. If you can hear thunder and or see lightning you can be struck by it. If a building you are cleaning or one nearby has a lightning rod and it gets struck there’s a good chance you will be shocked. We had 22 Marines get hit when lightning hit a nearby tree and it carried through the ground water into the GP tent they were in and every one of them got knocked on their butts. It’s a one in a million but it’s not worth your life or the life of your employees.
GP tents bring back nightmares of CS gas grenades being thrown in at 2:00 in the morning
Yeah, that and JP8 drip heaters to try and stay warm. No fumes from them…
I personally would never work when it is lightning outside… holding the wand & you can get electrocuted. Electricity is nothing to play with. Do you want to go home at the end of the day?
Well, I’m glad I didn’t call off today’s job due to the forecast. Turned out way nicer than predicted.
That seems to be the way it is in New England, oftentimes. “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute…”
Still got soaked towards the end of cleaning the exterior windows (wfp), but only distant rumbles of thunder after I got inside to clean the interior windows.
Yea I’ll show up at a job even if it’s forecasted to rain, you just never know, also I’ve waited the rain out for a few minutes, beats packing up, getting soaked then having to come back, specially if the sun comes out later
