Lightning Strikes in the US: Facts, Trends and Impacts (2024)

FAQs

What are the 3 main effects of a lightning strike? ›

The mechanism of the injuries may include electrical injury, burns from heat, and mechanical trauma.

About 40 million lightning strikes hit the ground in the United States each year.

The Impact of a Lightning Strike

Hundreds more survive strikes but suffer from a variety of lasting symptoms, including memory loss, dizziness, weakness, numbness, and other life-altering ailments. Strikes can cause cardiac arrest and severe burns, but 9 of every 10 people survive.

Stay off corded phones, computers and other electrical equipment that put you in direct contact with electricity. Avoid plumbing, including sinks, baths and faucets. Stay away from windows and doors, and stay off porches. Do not lie on concrete floors, and do not lean against concrete walls.

Humans hit by lightning may also have their eardrums blown out by the incoming pressure wave, their respiratory system paralyzed, or suffer secondary burns as their hair or clothing catches fire. But lightning doesn't kill all of its victims; around 90% of people struck survive.

In the initial stages of development, air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges in the cloud and between the cloud and the ground; however, when the differences in charges becomes too great, this insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a rapid discharge of electricity that we ...

In most cases, a person's heart will stop after being struck by lightning, so the key to survival is having someone nearby who can administer CPR. Even if you survive, a lightning strike will have long-lasting effects on your body, including memory issues, muscle soreness and changes in mood.

While Texas had more total lightning strikes in 2023, Florida consistently leads the nation in lightning strike density, measured in strikes per square kilometer.

Lightning moves about 30,000 times faster than a bullet. Thunder is the result of the rapid heating and expansion of air caused by a lightning flash.

Should you wash your hands or take a shower during a thunderstorm? ›

Avoid plumbing: Metal plumbing and the water inside are both very good conductors of electricity. Therefore, do not wash your hands or dishes, take a shower or bath, do laundry, etc. during a thunderstorm.

Dr. Griggs says if a person is struck by lightning, it can cause cardiac arrest, which stops a person's body from circulating blood and cause direct injury to the brain and nervous system, preventing the brain from being able to send the appropriate signals to tell the body to continue breathing.

Harmful Effects of Lightning

Lightning may start fires and destroy structures, inflicting extensive property damage and devastation. Lightning causes both forest fires and tree burns. Lightning immediately injures or even kills living beings.

Lightning is a gigantic electrical spark. A spark that can be 5 miles (8 kilometers) long. It would take up to 80 million car batteries to equal the power of one thunderbolt. A single lightning flash has enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for three months!

In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times hotter than the surface of the sun). When lightning strikes a tree, the heat vaporizes any water in its path possibly causing the tree to explode or a strip of bark to be blown off.

Lightning discharges are typically miles long, but certain types of horizontal discharges can be tens of miles in length. The entire flash lasts only a fraction of a second.