Lightning danger exists even several miles from thunderstorm

FEEDING HILLS, Mass. (WWLP) - As the storm clouds rolled in over the weekend, dangerous lightning lit up the sky.

For some, the lightning was too close for comfort.

"Lightning struck about ten feet away from the car, but it hit the ground. Nothing happened to us, but there was an awful lot of lightning strikes yesterday. Scary," said Jerome Riley of Springfield.

Lightning can strike as much as ten miles away from the main thunderstorm. You can actually hear thunder about ten miles from the storm as well. So...if you can hear thunder, you're close enough to a thunderstorm to be struck by lightning.

At a Nascar race in the Poconos on Sunday, lightning is suspected of killing one man .

So far this year 19 people in the United States have died from lightning strikes and they've all been outside, many died taking shelter under a tree.

At Oak Ridge Golf Club in Feeding Hills, at the first rumble of thunder they blow a horn to bring golfers back inside.

"We certainly won't let someone out if there's thunder going on or lightning going on and we will make a check to make sure that everyone’s come in off the course, that they're not trying to continue golfing," said Tony Strycharz, Director of Golf at Oak Ridge Golf Club.

The threat doesn't scare everyone

"I'm old enough I haven't been hit yet. It's pretty to watch the way it lights up the whole area and some of it comes down so straight. It's not bad, I'm not afraid of it," said Ruth Martin of West Springfield.

Remember, the safest place in a thunderstorm is in a sturdy enclosed structure with walls, a roof and plumbing.