Each year, millions of Americans invest time and money to attend sporting, entertainment, and recreational events at venues ranging in size from intimate parks to large fairgrounds and stadiums. Attendees are typically focused on the entertainer, activity, sports team, or event at hand, and less so on their surroundings. Situational awareness can be compromised when hazardous weather threatens, and in the worst of cases, loss of life has occurred.  Fatalities, injuries, and damage have occurred at venues due to lightning, wind gusts, extreme heat, hail, flooding, ice and snow, extreme cold, tornadoes, and hurricanes.  Throughout the year, many events are delayed, postponed, or canceled due to lightning.  In addition, at many indoor events, and almost all outdoor events, sheltering options against life-threatening weather are limited or non-existent. In the U.S., hazardous weather kills attendees at entertainment venues each year, and litigation in these instances exceeds tens of millions of dollars.  This session will focus on mitigating impacts of a high impact weather event with a focus on lightning safety during outdoor events.

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