During the summer, many of us will experience a dramatic increase in the number of thunderstorms in our area. These violent storms are named for the loud booms and crashing sounds that accompany them, but it’s lightning that we really need to watch out for. Sure, the sounds of thunder may be scary, but by the time you hear it, the danger from the flash of lightning that caused it has already passed. Lightning is both dangerous and fascinating. How many of the following facts about lightning did you already know?
1. REPEAT PERFORMANCE
This old myth that “lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice” is about as misleading as they come. There is nothing that prevents lightning from striking the same spot twice. In fact, there are numerous documented cases of lightning striking the same place numerous times. A good example is the Empire State Building which is normally struck more than 20 times per year.
2. DEATH FROM ABOVE
In the United States alone, approximately 200 people are killed by lightning strikes annually. Florida remains the lightning capital of the U.S. and accounts for around 10 percent of all people struck by lightning in the country every year.
3. SHAPE SHIFTER
A lightning bolt can take on an amazing variety of shapes and sizes. It could be as thin as a pencil or as wide as 10 miles! As anyone who has ever watched a thunderstorm knows, lightning can be both beautiful and completely unpredictable.
4. FIGHTING BACK
In the Middle Ages, thunderstorms – like so many other things – were thought to be caused by evil spirits. Since it was believed that the sound of church bells ringing helped to ward off evil spirits, monks would often climb up to the bell towers during storms to ring the bells, ironically making them more likely to be struck by lightning. Bell-ringers were among the most likely people to be struck at that time.
5. ALWAYS ON
Each and every year, the Earth endures about 25 million lightning strikes as the result of the 100,000 or so thunderstorms that form in the atmosphere. If you do the math, you’ll discover that equals more than 100 lightning strikes per second! At any given moment there are almost 2,000 thunderstorms raging on Planet Earth.
6. GLASS BLASTER
Lightning’s heat is so intense that it can also actually form glass when it strikes sand. Sometimes strips of glass can be located in the sand following a storm.
7. FAIR WARNING
A thunderstorm can normally be heard ten to twelve miles away from its source. This normally provides more than enough warning for those in the storm’s path to seek shelter.8. LIGHTNING FAST
Lightning bolts normally travel at a speed of about 60,000 miles per second. That may be a little slow compared to light which travels at 186,000 miles per second, but plenty fast enough to prevent you from ever dodging one that’s coming your way!9. HOT STUFF
The average lightning bolt can generate temperatures in excess of 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the surface of the sun, which is just over 10,000 degrees!
10. LET IT RAIN
If you are struck by lightning when wearing wet clothes, your chances of survival get a little boost. That’s because the water in your clothes is an excellent conductor of electricity and the jolt from lightning may be partially channeled around your body as it passes through your wet clothing.
11. FEAR FACTOR
Although lightning is surely a force to be respected and even feared in some cases, the irrational fear of lightning is known as keraunophobia. And yes, there are those who also suffer from an irrational fear of thunder, which is called brontophobia.
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