Thunderstorms and greenhouses

[Garden Manager]

Just how safe a place to be in a thunderstorm is a greenhouse?

Just been out in my GH this afternoon, then a storm started up nearby. Had to give up what i was doing because i didnt feel safe.

BTW my greenhouse is aluminium framed.

[Garden Manager]

[Mrs Ava]

I have been in mine in galeforce winds and storms, never feel worried.  If it is very exposed, and the wind is howling, and it isn't that solid, I guess I would be concerned about falling/breaking glass.  As for lightning strikes (I have a cousin who has been struck twice in his lifetime, and lived to tell the tale) I googled and could find no references to the risks of greenhouses being hit.  What are the odds I wonder when there are so many satellite dishes, aerials, pylons, etc.

Did you have a productive time in your greenhouse Richard?

[Garden Manager]

well yes i did EJ - up to the point I felt 'uncomfortable' being out there in a storm that is. Dont like thunderstorms at the best of times!

I guess its like being in a car (or a faraday cage maybe) as long as you arent actualy touching metal at the time the the electricity will conduct to earth through the frame (rather than through you or i). Hmm had time to think about it you see! ;D

Thanks for your post.

[Doris_Pinks]

We saw the faraday cage in operation many moons ago in the museum in Boston I think it was! There was this woman in the middle of it chatting away whilst lightening was striking it! :o  Now that was a job I wouldn't like to have!! (her hair was rather curly! ;D)  Having seen it, makes me feel safer in a car, plane etc!

[Multiveg]

Another thing at the Royal Institution of Great Britain (not the Xmas lectures) was a demonstration of a faraday cage. I volunteered! I had a wand with tassles on and a party hat with dangly bits - stuck my head through the hole in the top and the bits and bobs stood up!

While thinking of Xmas lectures, William Woollard (of Top Gear) was one of the exec producers.