Playing It Safe – Lightning

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Lightning, Safety Tips, Fatalities, Storms

Here is an updated list of the lightning fatalities through June 21st. Based on 30-year averages, in the United States, about 1 person is killed by lightning every other day from now through the end of August. Sunday marked the start of Lightning Safety Awareness Week in the United States.

Here is a list and map of fatalities available on NOAA’s lightning Safety web site. While there will be a slight lag, especially over weekends, they try to keep the list as up to date as possible. A number of dangerous thunderstorms have hit New England this past weekend and they are common in most parts of the US. http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/fatalities.htm

How do you stay safe?? In 2006 a teenager was killed in Maine playing soccer. The sky was clear overhead but a stray bolt of lightning from a storm 10 miles away struck her. So, here are a couple links from our Farmers’ Almanac and FATV files. They discuss the severity of storms and ways to “play it safe”.

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/a/when-lightning-danger

http::/www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/a/lightning_kills_play_it_safe