Don't ride the lightning.

Next time you're planning to go out for a leisurely walk with your MP3 player, be sure to check the weather forecast first. Summer is the prime time for lightning strikes, a fact that Jason Bunch, a teen from Castle Rock, Colo., learned the hard way. Two summers ago, he was mowing grass while rocking out to some Metallica on his iPod. Although there wasn't any rain falling on Bunch, he did hear distant thunder. Bunch was then struck by lightning, which seemed to travel through his music player, blowing out his eardrums and leaving him with nasty burns where the device and its cords were close to his body.

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Devices such as MP3 players don't attract lightning, says Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, an emergency-room physician at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago. However, they may change the pathway that lightning's energy follows in the human body. lightning that might have passed rather harmlessly over the skin may react differently to the metal of these devices and cause damage. Rather than leaving your tunes at home, your best bet is watching out for lightning before it hits. Though people have been injured while using MP3 players in storms, Cooper says the devices' main risk "is keeping you from paying attention to thunder and the sky" If you're caught in a storm, seek shelter.

For more tips, visit www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov.