Can you use the phone or take a shower during a thunderstorm? These are the lightning safety tips to know.

Growing up, you probably scoffed when your parents or grandparents would tell you to avoid taking a bath or a shower during a thunderstorm. After all, it's just an urban legend, right? 

Wrong – it turns out that all those years of adults keeping you away from the shower during a storm were rightly cautious. As NOAA explains, lightning is "the first thunderstorm hazard to arrive and the last to leave." 

"Because lightning is one of the most capricious and unpredictable characteristics of a thunderstorm, no one can guarantee an individual or group absolute protection from it," the agency says. "However, knowing and following proven lightning safety guidelines can greatly reduce the risk of injury or death."