MYTH: Rubber shoes or boots offer protection from a lightning strike.

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

From Dan: How the crime of copyright infringement took $1 million from me and brought down my business.

I've lost more than $1 million to copyright infringement in the last 15 years, and it's finally brought an end to my professional storm chasing operation. This page is a detailed account of the biggest threat to my photography and video operation that I had to battle daily to just barely survive, and eventually could not overcome. It's a problem facing all of my colleagues as well.

TRUTH: Air is also a strong insulator. A lightning bolt (on average) has pushed its way through miles of air, so it won't be stopped by a half-inch of rubber, or several hundred feet of rubber, for that matter. People who have been struck by lightning often get their shoes (and/or clothes) blown off or blown apart from the powerful shock wave produced by the lightning stroke.

READ: More Weather Myths | Weather Library Home

Storm chaser and photographer Dan Robinson

About the Author: Dan Robinson has been a storm chaser, photographer and cameraman for 33 years. His career has involved traveling around the country covering the most extreme weather on the planet including tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, floods and winter storms. Dan has been extensively published in newspapers, magazines, web articles and more, and has both supplied footage for and appeared in numerous television productions and newscasts. He has also been involved in the research community, providing material for published scientific journal papers on tornadoes and lightning.