This is great advice. I had a very close call last year, and have made it a point to ensure that it never happens again.

My Dad and I were on a fishing trip in Michigan and floating down the river with a guide in a long, canoe-like river boat. A storm came down the river from behind us pretty soon after we put the boat in. The guide decided to pull the boat to the side of the river under some overhanging tree branches. It didn't appear to be that big of a storm when we had looked at the radar earlier, and it was moving fast, so we weren't all that worried.

At the time I wasn't sure if it we had made the best decision, but there weren't any immediately better alternatives. As the rain got heavier, and the storm got closer, we just waited. I was in the bow of the boat, and the current kept swinging me out from under the branches into the main current. Every few minutes I'd pull on the branches to give myself better cover from the rain.

Eventually it really started pouring, and then hailing. The storm was right overhead, so we hunkered down. All in an instant I felt something weird come over my body (not hair standing up, just something different), I saw a bright orange flash, I screamed like a little girl, I ducked and covered my head while hearing an extremely loud crack.

After maybe a second I popped up and said to my Dad and the guide "Are you okay?" I was a bit surprised to hear myself after having been so close to such a loud sound. They didn't respond. I repeated myself, and they both said, "Did you see that?" I said, "Did you hear me scream." They both said that they hadn't.

My dad says that he saw a hole in the water where the lightning struck, just two or three feet from where I was sitting in the boat. The bow of the boat had been in that spot minutes before, but I had pulled it back under the trees. I wasn't holding my fishing (lightning?) rod, but I easily could have been.

I felt sick. We could smell the ozone.

I don't think it was a particularly big/strong bolt, but it was big enough.

There was a guy across the river who had also pulled off to take cover. He was freaked out because he was so close to where the bolt struck. Then he realized how close we were.

After the storm passed, we called it a day (didn't even catch a fish), and paddled back to the lodge (which was about 20 minutes downstream).

About a month and a half later, we were with the same guide in the same boat, but on a different stretch of river. We thought we were clear from the storm that we saw on the radar, but this massive cell ended up right on top of us. We were right on its edge, so the lightning would get closer and then farther away and then closer again. We were smart enough to get out of the boat this time, but ended up crouching in the woods for nearly three hours hoping the storm would pass.

It was pretty terrifying. I'm definitely scarred by my experience. I can't enjoy thunderstorms the way I used to. When I see the orange flash or hear the loud crack of a close strike, I'm taken back to last May and I feel kind of sick. I'm really lucky that is the only lasting effect from a few poor decisions.

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What I've learned:

1. Don't put yourself in a bad situation. Watch the radar, and have a plan for if/when a storm is getting close.

2. Don't be afraid to travel to a safer place. There is a time to hunker down, but it's not until you really have no other options.

3. Most people don't know much about lightning safety.

4. Your friends will make fun of you for taking electrical storms seriously. Getting some crap from your friends is better than getting hit by lightning.

5. You are never totally safe. If a guy in his office chair can get hit, then you can get hit almost anywhere. Still, there is almost always a safer place to be. Get there if you have time.

6. Small storms can be more dangerous that big storms. If you hear thunder, take it seriously.

7. Take a few minutes to read up on lightning safety (http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov). It will probably be useful at some point in your life, and what you think you know is probably not 100% right.

8. Most lightning safety tips seem overly cautious. They are, but it's something uncommon enough and dangerous enough that being overly cautious is worth the aggravation.