Is It Safe to Bathe My Baby During a Lightning Storm?

Summer thunderstorm question, as we are currently under a thunderstorm warning in D.C. and want to give our daughter a bath. What are the actual odds of being struck by lightning while showering or bathing during a thunderstorm? And what helps reduce those odds (PVC pipes vs. metal, living in a grounded concrete apt. building vs. a single-family home, etc.)? Currently weighing the risks of getting electrocuted with the benefits of getting all of the yogurt out of my nine-month-old daughter’s hair before bed.

—Scared to Bathe

I remember this warning very clearly from my childhood. I had always assumed it was made up, like many things in the 1980s. On some investigation, the reality is more complicated.

Using water in your house during a lightning storm carries a possible risk of electrocution. Basically, if lightning hit your house, the electricity could travel through the water in the pipes and deliver a shock. How often this actually happens is a bit unclear. The internet suggests 10 to 20 people are injured every year in this way, based on data from this website, but I was not able to verify those counts. Plastic pipes would lower this risk but perhaps not erase it.

The size of this risk is very small, but in theory it is there. It is perhaps worth noting that you’re likely to be under a thunderstorm warning much more frequently than the actual thunderstorm. Until you hear the beginnings of thunder, the storm is too far away to hit your house. So you could start the bath, get the yogurt out fast, and pull your daughter out if you start hearing thunder.