Lightning strike survivors want others to learn from their experience
A father and daughter who were struck by lightning outside of a spring training game described what the near-death experience was like -- and told AccuWeather what they want others in similar situations to know.
By
Allison Finch, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Apr 12, 2022 10:07 AM EST
|
Updated Apr 12, 2022 10:07 AM EST
John and Ashley Moberg are recovering from their injuries in Elmhurst, Illinois, after their vacation in Florida ended with them both in the hospital.
Ashley Moberg and her father, John Moberg, both Illinois residents, are hopeful that their scary encounter with severe weather will remind people always to heed warnings in times of life-threatening weather.
The father-daughter duo spent two days in the hospital after the unthinkable happened when they were leaving a spring training game between the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves in Tampa earlier this month.
By the time the Mobergs were walking to their car after the game was called off in the sixth inning due to thunderstorms, the area was under a severe thunderstorm watch, and lightning was encroaching on Tampa's George M. Steinbrenner Field, which is the Yankees' spring training home stadium.
Suddenly, a flash and boom turned what was supposed to be a fun afternoon into a frightening scene for them.
"We ran under the trees and stopped briefly. My dad tried to use the remote clicker to try and set off the car alarm. I had bent down to adjust my shoe, then a flash and a boom, and we were flying through the air," Ashley recalled in an interview at her Chicago-area home with AccuWeather National Reporter Emmy Victor.
John was temporarily knocked unconscious by the lightning strike.
"I had this sense I was falling on my face, but it was like being in a dream. Then I passed out and woke up with my face lying in the mud and totally paralyzed. Ashley, for a moment, thought I was dead," John recalled, the area underneath his right eye still badly bruised from the broken cheekbone he suffered.
John suffered a broken cheekbone, and Ashley sustained a burn to her neck from a necklace she was wearing after it rapidly heated up from the lightning strike.
The two have since returned home to Elmhurst, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, where they continue to recover. The Yankees reached out to family in the aftermath of the incident. Ashley displayed an autographed baseball from Yankees star Aaron Judge during her interview with Victor, and the Mobergs said they also received free tickets for a game in Chicago when the Yankees play the White Sox later this season.
Still, they hope others can learn from their life-threatening experience.
Ashley recalled that the two had sat out multiple rainstorms at baseball games before, but after this experience, they are warning others to take each experience with a grain of salt.
"Don't always assume the conditions are going to be the same as they were," Ashley said.
John hopes that this experience will teach others to listen to and heed weather warnings.
"You never think something is going to happen to you, and you should heed the warnings from the weather and anyone else of what to do and what not to do," John said.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Lightning is much more common at baseball games than one would think. According to a journal article published this March in Weather, Climate, and Society, author Chris Vagasky, a lightning data and safety specialist at the National Lightning Safety Council, analyzed lightning strikes at baseball games from 2016 to 2019 and discovered that 717 games were found to have lightning within an 8-mile distance of the stadium. Vagasky, who also works for the Finland-based lightning research firm Vaisala, determined that one out of every 14 Major League Baseball games has lightning within what lightning safety experts would deem an unsafe distance.
Furthermore, Florida historically has been deemed the lightning capital of the U.S., meaning it gets more strikes per square kilometer than any other state in the country, with 85.99 strikes per square kilometer recorded in 2021. Florida also led the nation in 2021 in lightning fatalities, with four people killed by lightning last year in the state, according to the National Weather Service.
However, these statistics shouldn't deter people from enjoying a baseball game or any outdoor event. Mary Ann Cooper, MD, the medical and lightning safety specialist at the National Lightning Safety Council, said that whether at a baseball game, a kid's soccer game or just spending time outdoors, always have a safety plan and know the weather.
Cooper narrowed it down to four things she wanted to teach people about lightning safety.
"One: When thunder roars, go indoors. Two: No place outside is safe when thunderstorms are in the area. Three: 30 minutes since thunder roars, now it's safe to go outdoors," Cooper said in an interview with AccuWeather. "The fourth thing I'm going to add is you're responsible for yourself," she said. "You have to be responsible for yourself and whoever is with you."
Vagasky said that lightning can strike 10 miles away from the thunderstorm. While lightning can occasionally strike farther away, the 10-mile radius around the storm is the danger zone where you need to get to a place of safety.
"If you start seeing building clouds, if you see lightning in the distance, if you hear thunder, then it's time to start thinking about where you're going to go to get to a lightning-safe place," Vagasky said to AccuWeather in an interview.
If at a baseball game when lightning strikes, Vagasky recommends quickly finding safety in a fully-enclosed area, like a bathroom in the area or in your vehicle if you are close enough to it.
"It will be very hard to dodge lightning once it starts coming out of the sky because it's coming out of the sky at about 200,000 mph," Vagasky said. "So once lightning starts, you're not going to stop it from going where it wants to go."
Vagasky and Cooper recommend downloading your favorite weather app to stay up to date on the current weather with your mobile device.
The AccuWeather app will provide the user with a detailed hourly weather forecast and real-time watches, warnings and alerts for your area to keep you and your family prepared for what's ahead.
For the latest weather news, check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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News / Severe Weather
Lightning strike survivors want others to learn from their experience
A father and daughter who were struck by lightning outside of a spring training game described what the near-death experience was like -- and told AccuWeather what they want others in similar situations to know.
By Allison Finch, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Apr 12, 2022 10:07 AM EST | Updated Apr 12, 2022 10:07 AM EST
John and Ashley Moberg are recovering from their injuries in Elmhurst, Illinois, after their vacation in Florida ended with them both in the hospital.
Ashley Moberg and her father, John Moberg, both Illinois residents, are hopeful that their scary encounter with severe weather will remind people always to heed warnings in times of life-threatening weather.
The father-daughter duo spent two days in the hospital after the unthinkable happened when they were leaving a spring training game between the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves in Tampa earlier this month.
By the time the Mobergs were walking to their car after the game was called off in the sixth inning due to thunderstorms, the area was under a severe thunderstorm watch, and lightning was encroaching on Tampa's George M. Steinbrenner Field, which is the Yankees' spring training home stadium.
Suddenly, a flash and boom turned what was supposed to be a fun afternoon into a frightening scene for them.
"We ran under the trees and stopped briefly. My dad tried to use the remote clicker to try and set off the car alarm. I had bent down to adjust my shoe, then a flash and a boom, and we were flying through the air," Ashley recalled in an interview at her Chicago-area home with AccuWeather National Reporter Emmy Victor.
John was temporarily knocked unconscious by the lightning strike.
"I had this sense I was falling on my face, but it was like being in a dream. Then I passed out and woke up with my face lying in the mud and totally paralyzed. Ashley, for a moment, thought I was dead," John recalled, the area underneath his right eye still badly bruised from the broken cheekbone he suffered.
John suffered a broken cheekbone, and Ashley sustained a burn to her neck from a necklace she was wearing after it rapidly heated up from the lightning strike.
The two have since returned home to Elmhurst, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, where they continue to recover. The Yankees reached out to family in the aftermath of the incident. Ashley displayed an autographed baseball from Yankees star Aaron Judge during her interview with Victor, and the Mobergs said they also received free tickets for a game in Chicago when the Yankees play the White Sox later this season.
Still, they hope others can learn from their life-threatening experience.
Ashley recalled that the two had sat out multiple rainstorms at baseball games before, but after this experience, they are warning others to take each experience with a grain of salt.
"Don't always assume the conditions are going to be the same as they were," Ashley said.
John hopes that this experience will teach others to listen to and heed weather warnings.
"You never think something is going to happen to you, and you should heed the warnings from the weather and anyone else of what to do and what not to do," John said.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Lightning is much more common at baseball games than one would think. According to a journal article published this March in Weather, Climate, and Society, author Chris Vagasky, a lightning data and safety specialist at the National Lightning Safety Council, analyzed lightning strikes at baseball games from 2016 to 2019 and discovered that 717 games were found to have lightning within an 8-mile distance of the stadium. Vagasky, who also works for the Finland-based lightning research firm Vaisala, determined that one out of every 14 Major League Baseball games has lightning within what lightning safety experts would deem an unsafe distance.
Furthermore, Florida historically has been deemed the lightning capital of the U.S., meaning it gets more strikes per square kilometer than any other state in the country, with 85.99 strikes per square kilometer recorded in 2021. Florida also led the nation in 2021 in lightning fatalities, with four people killed by lightning last year in the state, according to the National Weather Service.
However, these statistics shouldn't deter people from enjoying a baseball game or any outdoor event. Mary Ann Cooper, MD, the medical and lightning safety specialist at the National Lightning Safety Council, said that whether at a baseball game, a kid's soccer game or just spending time outdoors, always have a safety plan and know the weather.
Cooper narrowed it down to four things she wanted to teach people about lightning safety.
"One: When thunder roars, go indoors. Two: No place outside is safe when thunderstorms are in the area. Three: 30 minutes since thunder roars, now it's safe to go outdoors," Cooper said in an interview with AccuWeather. "The fourth thing I'm going to add is you're responsible for yourself," she said. "You have to be responsible for yourself and whoever is with you."
Vagasky said that lightning can strike 10 miles away from the thunderstorm. While lightning can occasionally strike farther away, the 10-mile radius around the storm is the danger zone where you need to get to a place of safety.
"If you start seeing building clouds, if you see lightning in the distance, if you hear thunder, then it's time to start thinking about where you're going to go to get to a lightning-safe place," Vagasky said to AccuWeather in an interview.
If at a baseball game when lightning strikes, Vagasky recommends quickly finding safety in a fully-enclosed area, like a bathroom in the area or in your vehicle if you are close enough to it.
"It will be very hard to dodge lightning once it starts coming out of the sky because it's coming out of the sky at about 200,000 mph," Vagasky said. "So once lightning starts, you're not going to stop it from going where it wants to go."
Vagasky and Cooper recommend downloading your favorite weather app to stay up to date on the current weather with your mobile device.
The AccuWeather app will provide the user with a detailed hourly weather forecast and real-time watches, warnings and alerts for your area to keep you and your family prepared for what's ahead.
Read more:
For the latest weather news, check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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