Time to Correct Two Thunderstorm Myths

One of dozens of examples of lightning and showering cautions over the past month. 

Lightning and Bathroom Showers

It is the time of year when we get our annual thunderstorm hazards presentations from weather scientists -- which are usually good reminders. However, we need to separate truth from fiction with regard to a couple of thunderstorm hazards. The first regards lightning and showers during thunderstorms. 

An annual source of misinformation is from the Centers for Disease Control (what does lightning have to do with "disease control"?) regarding the risk of taking a shower during a thunderstorm (below):

I did a DuckDuckGo search to find how often people die in showers during thunderstorms. Couldn't find a single one. So, I went to the AI program, "Grok," did a "deep search," and this is what I found:

In other words, the risk of dying from an electrical shock in the shower during a thunderstorm is minuscule. Meanwhile, one American a day -- on average -- dies in the shower due to a slip and fall!

To my fellow meteorologists: Cautioning people not to shower during thunderstorms is a misuse of time and the attention of our audiences. Instead, we should be telling them to install grab bars and non-slip shower floors. 

Is Hail "Life-Threatening"?

Three years ago, the National Weather Service made the decision to call baseball and larger sized hail, "life-threatening." They began triggering those obnoxious tones on our smart phones for large hail, sometimes in the middle of the night. But, is hail the hazard it is made out to be? 

The answer is, "no." Again from Grok:

Just ~1 death from hail per decade. And, many of those decades (40's through 80's), our ability to accurately warn of hail was poor -- which would have tended to inflate hail deaths compared to today.

Hail is not a "life-threatening" hazard.