Do you shut all your windows in a thunderstorm?

[FairfaxAikman]

DF thinks I'm mad for getting up at 2am to shut all the windows once a thunderstorm started here.
He thinks there is no danger in leaving the windows open when it was so hot last night.
I admit the risk is low but think it's still electricity and you don't fuck about with electricity.

WWYD?

I would open the bedroom windows,if I could, I love to see and hear dramatic weather.. I live in a very old cottage type place,and have just one sash window in my bedroom,and the sash cords are broken,so there is just a two inch gap at the top,to let any air in. But no rain here last night, just cracking amounts of thunder and lightning.

I went out in it at 3am to bring my horses in. The colours were lovely and the rain felt warm and tropical. I do remember standing in a 6" puddle waiting for their water buckets to fill up and thinking hope I don't get hit by lightening. (my husband slept so soundly he didn't even notice the storm, let alone me getting up!)

Years ago an elderly relative used to open all the windows to give an entrance and exit route for any lightning. That was the norm in her day though.

But then again she was terrified of thunder and lightning and hid in the cupboard....the one with the electric meter in it!!😁😁

You'll see me hanging out the window watching it! I love a good storm.

Well we had the windows wide open and the curtains also. As the windows are above the bed I could lie there watching the light show and getting the odd cool mist of rain on my face. Was very refreshing.

No
It’s a thunderstorm, not a nuclear attack

Ours were open upstairs as we were hanging out of them, watching 2 thunderstorms 30 miles apart.

I don't shut them, but I remember staying with my nan in the 1980's, and she wouldn't let us go upstairs during a thunderstorm 😆

I used to scoff at all the stuff my grandmother did during a thunderstorm (including unplugging everything). Then our bloody TV aerial got struck by lightning last year, in much the same way as Portia's, exploding the telly, DVD player and everything else plugged into it as well as several other electrical items, and starting a small fire on the chimney, which was fortunately put out almost immediately by the very heavy rain.

I am slightly more careful these days (and also had the new TV aerial lowered a few inches so it's shorter than several of the neighbours' now. Sneaky!)

Couldn't tell you about windows, though.

Wait, a PP mentioned 'ball lightning'...

Is that a real thing?!

Ah Hebe Mumsnet we have something in common re tv aerials being struck by lightning, glad your fire was extinguished by the rain and hope the damage wasn't too bad. As for windows being open I think if the roof is on fire the only good an open window would be is for escape purposes When the roof is alight the best advice is to get out fast as per my Mum's instuctions

I shut mine when the rain started. It was blowing in directly 1m into the bathroom on the wind and there was still a puddle on the window sill by lunchtime.

TV aerials tend to be effective conductors at the highest part of the house so there is a logic there

DM avoids mirrors. Not sure on the logic of that. Maybe it just makes it look worse. I can't really tell what practical difference the silver back would make.

FWIW yes Ball plasma does exist but its not that common.

Yes it is worth unplugging the TV aerial but do this before the storm starts not during;!

However do remember that the lightning discharge has come quite some way for a cloud to ground strike and a few feet either way isn't going to make a h'pennyworh of difference!

The TV aerial is more liekely than not to get hit as the lightning is looking for the easist way to get to earth and that metal cable to it etc is a low ish route. However what happends afterwards is that the size of the aerial cable isnt anywhere big enough to take the several thousands of amps of current hence it will more often than not, vapourise:(

The real problem is thn the power thats not taken safely to earth then finds its own m way and most anythiung metal is worth a try, pipes etc I have over time seen bricks blasted out of walls trees split the water in them being very rapidly heated expands very suddenly with exposive force and well thats that.

Sleep soundly won't you there migh be be another one along this evening;!

@longwayoff I’d have slept through it-only reason I was up is for constant toilet trips (32 wks pg), otherwise I’d not have heard it!

I don't even have a TV aerial any more. We never used it, it wasn't fixed properly and sat at a drunken angle. It used to clang against the chimney in high winds so we got it removed. No worries from lightning there!
My parents always insisted on unplugging the TV from the aerial in a storm. I pointed out one morning that it was a pointless thing to do if you leave the unplugged end of the wire pointing at something highly flammable. At least their paranoia was directed at something that did have a small risk of actually happening.

All our upstairs windows were open last night and stayed open throughout. I love storms!

@MoistOwlette ball lightning is a thing but I think only in very dry atmospheres.

Good. I don't want balls through my windows.

Well I did last night cos the rain was very heavy and the curtains were getting wet. I wouldn't otherwise though!

I must admit to paranoia after the roof caught fire and the tv blew up, once bitten twice shy.

My mum claims her house was struck by lightening when she was a little girl, and that it was a good job the window was open because the lightening ran around the room and out through the window. She swears if the window had been shut, the electric current would still be running around the walls
So now it’s ingrained in me, to always leave a window open in a storm...

I'm really intrigued as to what OP means by this

I admit the risk is low but think it's still electricity and you don't fuck about with electricity.

We weren't allowed to use the phone when I was a kid during a thunderstorm.

I saw an episode of Curious & Unusual Deaths before. A young man got caught in a storm on his way home from work so he popped into his nans house en route to wait for it to blow over.

He called his girlfriend whilst he was there to tell her where he was and not to worry, and lightning hit the aerial and killed him whilst he was holding the telephone

This reminds of last night. DH and I were in separate rooms as usual because it was so hot. After tossing and turning for about an hour I fell asleep only to be woken an hour later by DS1 who had tummy ache and wanted a cuddle in this heat!?
So finally get back to sleep after removing DS a few mm away only for DH to come charging in at 2am "THERES A STORM! I NEED TO CLOSE THE WINDOWS!" I nearly threw him out of the bloody window. Told him to do one and leave the sodding windows, went back to sleep and apparently missed an "epic storm". The end.

Not aerial, fucking telephone wire. D'oh!