In short: delivery work puts you outside on foot again and again through a shift, which is exactly where lightning is dangerous. The National Weather Service's advice is simple: when thunder roars, go indoors, and stay there until 30 minutes after the last thunder. For a driver, "indoors" usually means a hard-topped car with the windows up. This guide covers that advice, the places that only feel safe, the situations drivers face on a shift, and what to do if someone is struck.
When thunder roars, go indoors
The National Weather Service has used the same message for years: when thunder roars, go indoors. If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck. Lightning can reach well beyond the rain, so a patch of blue sky overhead doesn't mean you're out of range.
The other half of the message is just as blunt: no place outside is safe when a thunderstorm is in the area. There are only two kinds of real shelter:
- A substantial building, one that people live or work in, with wiring and plumbing that give a strike's current a path to the ground. Inside, stay away from corded phones, plumbing, windows and doors. A cell phone is fine to use.
- A hard-topped metal vehicle with the windows closed.
Wait 30 minutes after the last thunder
The end of a storm fools people. The rain eases, the sky brightens at the back edge, and it feels over, but lightning can still strike from the trailing part of a storm. The National Weather Service's guidance is to wait 30 minutes after the last thunder before going back outside, and to start the 30 minutes again every time you hear another rumble.
The tracker uses the same idea for stations: it counts a station closed for lightning as clear once 30 minutes have passed without a ground strike within 6 miles. Drivers commonly report that stations reopen on about that clock; station leadership makes the call. So when the lot looks bright and dry but the doors are still shut, a wait like this is the likely reason.
Your vehicle is your shelter
For most drivers, the nearest safe place is the seat you just got out of. A hard-topped metal vehicle, such as a sedan, SUV, minivan, cargo van or pickup with a metal cab, protects you because the metal shell carries a strike's current around the outside of the car and down to the ground. It's the metal that protects you, not the rubber tires; that one is a myth.
- Close the windows and doors.
- Keep your hands off metal surfaces connected to the body of the car, such as the door and window frames, and don't lean on the door. Using your phone is fine.
- It's safe to keep driving, but the same storm can bring blinding rain, hail and sudden gusts. If you pull over, stop away from trees and power lines.
Not every vehicle counts. Convertibles, soft-top vehicles, cars with fiberglass shells, motorcycles, scooters and bicycles offer no real protection. If any part of your route is on foot or on two wheels, your shelter is a building.
Places that feel safe but aren't
- Open-sided shelters. A covered walkway, carport, bus shelter, porch or covered loading area keeps the rain off and does nothing about lightning. Neither does a small shed.
- Trees. Lightning that hits a tree can jump to a person under it or spread through the ground around it.
- Open lots and lawns, where you may be the tallest thing around, and tall, isolated objects such as light poles, flagpoles and signposts.
- Metal fences, railings and power lines. Metal carries current a long way from where the lightning hit.
- Water and high ground. Keep away from pools, ponds and flooded areas, and off hilltops and the open top level of a parking garage.
What it looks like on a delivery day
Waiting at the station. It's tempting to stand outside by the cars and talk, or to hold your place in line on foot. If there's thunder, or the tracker shows strikes within 6 miles, stay in your car with the windows up. Drivers commonly report that the line stops while a station is closed for lightning, so you give up little by waiting in the car. Standing under the building's overhang or by an open door is not the same as being inside.
Loading at the curb or in the lot. If thunder starts while you're loading, stop, close up and get in. A raised hatch or trunk lid is not cover.
Walking packages to doors. Each stop is a short walk across an open driveway, lawn or sidewalk, and with a storm overhead those walks add up. When you hear thunder close by, wait in the car between stops and use the 30-minute rule before starting again. If that puts you behind, note the time, take a screenshot of the storm on the map, and contact Driver Support through the Help section of the Flex app. How a delay is handled is Amazon's decision, but you'll have the time and the reason on record.
Apartment complexes. These can be the hardest stops to do safely in a storm: long walks between buildings, open courtyards and parking areas, outdoor metal stairs and railings, pools, and carports that look like shelter but aren't. An enclosed lobby, leasing office or mail room is real shelter; an open breezeway or outdoor stairwell is not. If a storm is about to arrive, it's often better to wait in the car and do the complex once it has passed than to get caught halfway through.
If you're caught outside with no shelter nearby
The National Weather Service is clear that nothing makes being outside safe, but these steps may lower the risk while you head for shelter:
- Get off high ground, such as a hill or the top level of a parking garage.
- Never lie flat on the ground, and never shelter under an isolated tree.
- Get away from water, and from things that conduct electricity: fences, power lines, metal railings.
- If you're with other people, spread out so one strike can't hurt everyone.
- Keep moving toward the nearest building or your car. These steps buy time; they are not a way to wait out the storm.
If someone is struck
- They are safe to touch. A person struck by lightning does not carry an electrical charge. Help them right away.
- Call 911. If you're on a route, the address of your current stop is in the app, which makes it quicker to say where you are.
- Check breathing and pulse. Lightning can stop the heart. If the person isn't breathing or has no pulse, start CPR, and use an AED if there's one nearby. If you haven't been trained, the 911 dispatcher can talk you through it.
- Mind your own safety. The storm may still be overhead, and lightning can strike the same place twice. If you can quickly move yourself and the person somewhere safer, do it.
Myths worth dropping
- "Lightning never strikes the same place twice." It does. Tall, isolated objects can be struck again and again.
- "If it isn't raining, there's no danger." Lightning can strike well away from the rain.
- "Heat lightning is harmless." What people call heat lightning is lightning from a storm too far away for its thunder to be heard, and that storm may be heading your way.
How the tracker can help, and where it can't
The tracker's lightning layer shows ground strikes from the last 30 minutes, fading as they age, and flags any station with a strike within 6 miles. A station's details show the chance of a strike within 6 miles in the next 20 minutes, and an alert can reach your phone when a station you watch closes. That helps with planning: whether to set off now, which way a storm is moving, when the all-clear is likely.
It is not a safety device. Lightning networks can miss strikes, data can arrive late, and a map can't hear thunder. If you hear thunder, act on that, whatever the map says. The National Weather Service's lightning safety pages have more detail.
The Flex Weather Tracker is independent and is not affiliated with Amazon. Nothing here replaces your own judgment or safety instructions from station staff.
Related: How weather closures work at delivery stations · What happens to your block when a station closes · How the tracker decides a station may be closed · All stations · Closure history · Warning accuracy · All guides