My two tales of unexpected storms occurred in two different locations, one in Wyoming, the other in Colorado.
The most unexpected storm I was in occurred in Wyoming on the golf course. It was a very hot, clear day. We were in the middle of a round when a high pitch whistle blew. You could hear the sound everywhere around. We looked up, the sky was blue, not a cloud in the sky. No rumbles were heard. Everyone except for us dashed in their carts to the clubhouse. We shrugged thinking maybe it was a party or something. I got up to take a shot, when suddenly winds 70mph or more nearly blew me over. Less then two minutes later, the winds passed through and were gone. I missed the ball and it ended up in a creek, costing me two strokes. But that was a smaller annoyance than being dead.
So, the warning here is when a golf course's emergency warning system sounds, head in, no questions asked. The club house often gets warnings of tornado or dust storms that can cause problems without ever having any sign of rain, thunder or lightning.
So the second tale of a storm occurred in Colorado on a golf course where the week before they had had a man killed by lightning. We paid attention to the notices posted on the walls. Again it was a beautiful day but on the fourth tee we saw clouds gather and then the whistle blew. We decided to play the hole out because we didn't hear lightning but only managed to get to our balls and pick them up. The older woman we were playing with just left. We barely made it inside before the deluge hit. Huge lighting blasts and rumbling of thunder and buckets of water. Everyone on the golf course was trapped inside the clubhouse for at least a half hour, by then everyone gave up and got wet since the thunder and lightning had stopped.
The message here is storms can hit incredibly fast. When the warning system sounds, get inside.
This advisory from the National Weather Service explains what can happen if you are struck by lightning. It also has some good safety tips. First Aid for Lightning Strike Victims steps is available from WebMD.