Why you shouldn’t worry too much about showering during a thunderstorm

For generations, parents have told their children that they shouldn’t take a shower during a thunderstorm.

Some people now wonder if that advice was misplaced. Users on Reddit forums for “Stupid Questions” (archived) and “No Stupid Questions” (archived) alike asked if showering during a thunderstorm is really as dangerous as they were told.

(Reddit)

Some people have similarly gone to Facebook (archived) to ask this question. Videos on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and YouTube (archived) warn of the apparent dangers of showering during a thunderstorm.

The odds of getting struck by lightning while showering in a thunderstorm are low, particularly in a newer home with proper lightning protection. However, it is still possible. Therefore, we’ve rated this claim a mixture of true and false information.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pages from 2024 and 2026 recommend people stay out of the shower and away from plumbing during a thunderstorm. In both old and new versions of its lightning safety webpage, the CDC says it’s best to avoid all water during a thunderstorm. Plastic pipes may pose a lower risk of lightning traveling through plumbing than metal pipes because plastic pipes are insulators that don’t conduct electricity well, but the water inside the pipes can still be conductive. The CDC says it’s best to avoid contact with plumbing and running water to reduce the risk of being struck.

The National Weather Service echoes the same advice on its website.

When a bolt of lightning strikes the ground, its current can travel through the immediate surrounding area and into anything or anyone nearby, the National Weather Service says. The NWS expands on this to explain how a bolt that doesn’t hit a home directly can still get into the home’s plumbing or wiring:

The lightning current can travel even farther through water, metal fences, power lines or plumbing. Lightning current may enter a building and transfer through wires or plumbing and damage everything in its path. Similarly, in urban areas, it may strike a pole or tree and the current then travels to several nearby houses and other structures and enter them through wiring or plumbing.

The Canadian government issues similar warnings. While it does suggest taking shelter “in an enclosed building with wiring and plumbing,” it also says to “delay taking a shower” because the charge of a nearby lightning strike may travel through the pipes.

It’s also true that the risk of getting struck by lightning while in the shower is lower than it used to be, to the point of being unlikely. In a 2016 paper by Ronald Holle, a National Weather Service scientist, found that lightning-related deaths in the U.S. and the percentage of U.S. lightning fatalities that occurred indoors dropped dramatically over the last century. Among the many reasons Holle named for the drop in lightning deaths was “the widespread availability of lightning-safe large buildings.”

Not only are buildings, including homes, built to be more lightning-safe today than in the past, people can also install lightning protection systems in homes that lack them.

One company that produces components for such systems, East Coast Lightning Equipment, says on its website, “A lightning protection system neither attracts, repels or prevents a lightning strike. The lightning protection system simply provides a safe path for the lightning current to follow — allowing the harmful current to be guided safely into the ground and away from your home.” Another company, Michigan Lightning Protection, says these systems “create designated low-resistance paths directing current safely to ground, preventing electricity from flowing through structural materials, wiring, or plumbing.” 

Between 2006 and 2025, the U.S. National Lightning Safety Council recorded no lightning fatalities associated with people showering during a thunderstorm. The vast majority of people who died from lightning strikes during that period were outside at the time they were struck.

However, that doesn’t mean injury or worse from a lightning strike in the shower is impossible. A home might not be as lightning-safe as you think, or a freak accident could occur. 

According to the Struck by Lightning database, which collects reports of lightning strike injuries and fatalities from news outlets, at least three recorded instances of people being struck by lightning while in the shower have occurred since 2008. All three victims were injured, not killed.

A video posted to Instagram by AccuWeather in 2025 shows lightning damage to a shower in a person’s home that occurred while the resident was not in the shower.

Ultimately, it’s a matter of risk. There is minimal risk of a person being struck by lightning during a thunderstorm while in the middle of a living room, for example. There is some risk, however small, that a person showering during a thunderstorm will be struck by lightning.

Snopes’ archives contributed to this report.