Lightning Safety

Types of Lightning

Intra-Cloud: The most common type of lightning. It happens completely inside the cloud, jumping between different charge regions in the cloud. Intra-cloud lightning is sometimes called sheet lightning because it lights up the sky with a 'sheet' of light. Cloud to Cloud: Lightning that occurs between two or more separate clouds. Cloud to Ground: Lightning that occurs between the cloud and the ground. Cloud to Air: Lightning that occurs when the air around a positively charged cloud top reaches out to the negatively charged air around it.

Lightning Facts:

- Lightning causes an average of 80 deaths and 300 injuries each year. - The energy from one lightning flash could light a 100 watt light bulb for more than 3 months. - Only about 10% of people that are struck are actually killed. 90% survive, but nearly 25% of these survivors suffer long term psychological or physiological trauma. - 92% of lightning injuries and deaths occur between May and September. - 45% of the deaths and 80% of injuries occurred in these months between 10am and 7pm. - Rubber-soled shoes & rubber tires provide NO protection from lightning. - Lightning can strike more than 10 miles away from any rainfall. More than 50% of lightning deaths occur AFTER the storm has passed.

Severe Weather Safety Guide

Lightning

Thunder:

Bolt from the blue: A positive lightning bolt which originates within the updraft of the storm, typically 2/3rds of the way up, travels horizontally for many miles, then strikes the ground. The air near a lightning strike is heated to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the surface of the sun. Rapid heating and cooling of air near the lightning channel causes a shock wave that results in thunder. Thunder from a nearby lightning strike will have a very sharp crack or loud bang. Thunder from a distant strike will have a continuous rumble.

FLASH BANG METHOD: Count the number of seconds between the lightning flash and the sound of the thunder, and...