Date: 201909
Local time of day: 0001-0600
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Weather elements / visibility: Rain; Thunderstorm
Light: Night
Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Human factors: Communication Breakdown
Second reporter function: Captain
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Detector: Person Flight Crew
Contributing factors: Staffing; Airport; Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure; Weather
Primary problem: Procedure

Narrative: Enroute to ZZZ1; thunderstorms forced us to divert to ZZZ. While the landing at ZZZ was uneventful; there were lightning strikes close enough to the airport to shut down the ramp. We shut down on a taxiway to wait it out. The time was XA:18pm.Obviously; nothing could be done about Mother Nature hitting us with lightning. The lightning kept the ramp closed for over an hour and a half. The problems began after the storms had finally moved off. We could not get ZZZ Ops to settle on a plan of action. Every time I radioed in; the response would be something vague; like; 'We're figuring that out;' or 'We're getting set up for you;' or 'We're looking into that.' My follow-up questions went unanswered.There are only so many ways I can tell passengers that I don't know anything. It really gets annoying after a while.At XD00; an hour after ramp operations resumed; I was surprised by fuel trucks driving out to meet our aircraft. Nobody had told me that this was in the works; and I was initially hesitant to allow fueling away from the terminal. I called [Flight Operations] to verify that we could do this; and he directed me to the nonstandard fueling operation in the FOM (Flight Operations Manual).At this point; we were still under the impression that we were going to offload people that wanted to get off; then zip down to ZZZ1. ZZZ Ops was still not forthcoming with information; however. Many decisions were made; then altered in the hour that followed. We were going to offload some people; then fly. Then we were going to take everyone to ZZZ1. We received a flight plan for this; and there was discussion as to whether we were legal to fly. Also; a wrinkle in that plan was there was reportedly nowhere to park in ZZZ1; making that whole journey pointless. Then we were going to cancel. Then we're back on for ZZZ1. I understand the operational challenges; but it was making life very difficult for us on the plane; since we're supposed to keep our passengers up to date; and things kept changing.The refuel process took a quick ten minutes; from XE10 to XE20. After that; my hopes were high that the resolution to our night was near.Nope. Our calls to ZZZ Ops either went unanswered; or more vague replies with no more details. Dispatch seemed to be doing their best to arrange something -- An FBO to park at for the night; possibly; but apparently; they couldn't get anything going.I was having a hard time understanding what the problem was with pulling up to an open area; using some stairs to offload people; and go from there. From all the times I've seen ZZZ listed an alternate for ZZZ1; it never occurred to me that they'd be utterly incapable of handling a divert aircraft. I do understand that the operations at ZZZ were also severely impacted by the weather; but as time wore on; the patience of the passengers and crew were becoming increasingly frayed. Flight attendants reported one passenger threatening the company with a lawsuit. Another passenger was becoming so anxious; the flight attendants were contemplating calling MedLink.  Approaching XF00; we called ZZZ Ops again; and were given the green light to come in. We blocked in at XF05AM; one hour and forty-five minutes after being refueled; four hours and forty-seven minutes after landing.We need better contingency planning that this. Of course; the ideal is that a divert aircraft should just be able to gas up and be ready to go when the weather cooperates. But there's no backup plan. What if the weather doesn't cooperate? What if crews time out before they can go? What if the destination is completely backlogged; as ZZZ1 was during this event? Communication was a tremendous failure. Being stuck on the plane; it was difficult to get any information on what planning was happening; what the status was of the ramp; and those who were being called in to help. After four hours of hearing 'We're working on it;' I began to think there was no solution in sight.


Second narrative: [Report narrative contained no additional information.]


Synopsis: Flight Crew after diversion due to weather encountered extended ground delay at diversion airport.