Anxious about thunderstorms and lightning? Here’s what you can do

When lightning hits during a thunderstorm, a sudden flash and earth-shattering bang can cause shudders for people.

Thousands of lightning strikes were recorded across New Zealand earlier this week, and the noise gave MetService’s head of weather news Heather Keats a jump scare. It was also an unsettling experience for Air New Zealand passengers on a flight to Queenstown, which had to turn back after getting hit by a bolt.

Clinical psychologist Dougal Sutherland says storms can trigger panic or flashbacks for people who previously have been affected by severe weather events or those with anxious personality traits.

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“It's very much that vital flight [or fight] response in your brain,” Sutherland says.

“Your body's inbuilt threat detection system has been triggered or set off almost like a fire alarm in a way that's indicating ‘hey, there's something dangerous to be feared’ and that promotes all those sort of anxiety behaviours, the fear and the worry, and the crying and the loss of emotions and maybe not wanting to go outside and fear of it coming back again as well.”

In those moments, controlling your breathing can help, Sutherland says.

“We know that when people get anxious, they start almost panting … and that actually makes those feelings of anxiety worse.

“Closing your mouth and breathing in through your nose deeply and then out through your mouth rather than kind of panting can help ease that anxiety.”

It’s important for teachers and parents to provide comfort and reassure safety, Sutherland says.

“For kids, there's the extra layer of they may not have the same understanding as an adult of what's happening and that can perhaps make it a little more scary than it might be for an adult.”

While its natural to want to run for cover, children’s nerves can be eased by learning about lightning and thunder and how little the risk is, he says.

Professor Craig Rodger, from the University of Otago’s department of physics, says New Zealand has about 300 to 1500 times lower frequency of lightning than the typical rate in the rest of the world. It makes the odds of “interacting” with lightning even lower, he says.

MetService’s lightning detection network has found the West Coast to be a hotspot for lightning compared to the rest of the country, but Rodger says even then it’s not particularly big numbers.

Veterinary behaviourist Jess Beer says early recognition of signs of anxiety is key to prevent full-on panic. For example, your cat or dog might go wide eyed, shiver, hide, or seek comfort from the owner. Dogs also might bark at windows or start to salivate and pant.

“It can vary [in pets] quite a lot from just ‘I've noticed that [storm] and it makes me a little uncomfortable’ through to quite extreme anxieties, which is actually more of a panic attack or a phobic attack where they can actually cause a lot of damage in their attempts to escape,” Beer says.

“If it is a true phobia, that is a panic attack, really medication or significant supplements is the best way to deal with it.”

Dogs can sense a change in barometric pressure, which is why they can be uncomfortable before a storm hits, Beer says.

“They can't quite tell where it's coming from. It's like the world is ending for some dogs and cats who are very sensitive.”

Socialising pets from a young age so they’re familiar with a range of noises, providing comfort during their uncertainty and pairing exposure to new experiences with praise, treats or toys all can help quell their nerves, she says.

For guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens, which are proving popular backyard companion pets, it’s important to provide “rock solid” protection for them or bring them in, Beer says.

“With those little guys as well, not only the fear of the thunder and the lightning, if they get wet and they're in a draught, they can very easily become quite unwell and sick.”

Civil Defence advises people to go indoors or find shelter when they see a flash of light but avoid isolated structures (such as a lone large tree out in the open, hilltops or electrically conductive objects such as metal fences, clothes lines and power).

To minimise your contact with the ground, find a low-lying place where you can “crouch low to the ground on the balls of your feet. Place your hands on your knees and your head between your knees”.

If your car has been struck by lightning while driving, pull over and turn on your hazard lights.

“Avoid contact with metal or other conducting surfaces inside and outside the vehicle to reduce your chance of being shocked.”

Rodger says you will be protected by staying inside the vehicle, because the electric current flows through to the ground, but some of it may leak into the car's wiring and affect the tyres since they have metal.

“Lightning will find the highest point to get to the ground so, you know, high trees, high buildings but if you’re out on somewhere, say the Canterbury Plains, somewhere big and flat, and you are taller than anything else than you are probably the [highest point].”

If you’re in the CBD and worried, Rodger notes there’s usually lightning rods installed at the top of tall buildings, like at Auckland’s Sky Tower, to provide a safe path for the current to flow through to the ground without causing issues.

As for planes, he says it’s not common for them to be struck in New Zealand. But when it happens, it's unlikely they'll burst into flames or drop out of the sky, the pilots usually turn back to get engineers to check out the wiring hasn’t been disrupted, he says.

“If you’re flying close enough to a thunderstorm, there’s likely to be high winds and the plane will be jittering around, that’s the sort of thing you’re going to notice more than the zap.”

Whether you choose to work from home on the day of a storm or play some music to dull out the noise, Sutherland gives the same advice to adults as children – remind yourself of the low risk.

“We’ve got to be got to be careful that planning ahead isn't actually a form of avoidance, because why are you not going out? Are you implicitly giving yourself or the kids around you the message that this is actually something to be scared of?”