Facts and Stats On Lightning
Graph source stats: USA Today/Snapshots
Some Facts About Lightning
From 1959 to 1994 an average of 363 Americans (in the USA) are struck a year,
90 of them are killed.
The annual odds of being struck are about 576,000 to 1. The annual odds of
being killed are about 2.32 million to 1. In other words, one in 87,000 bolts
of lightning hits someone. One in 345,000 bolts kills someone.
Florida is the most dangerous state for lightning strikes. In per capita terms
New Mexico is the most dangerous state.
Alaska and Hawaii are the least dangerous states, with zero reported lightning
deaths.
July is the most dangerous month for all lightning strikes (fatal and non-fatal).
3 p.m. is the most dangerous time of day, it is five times more dangerous than
9 a.m. anywhere on earth.
Men account for almost 84 percent of lightning deaths.
Famous golfer Lee Trevino has been struck by lightning not once, but twice.
Lightning strikes kill thousands of
people a year all over the world. Does lightning ever do any good?
On the plantary scale, lightning may have helped in the early formation of amino acids, precurser to life on Earth, say's Colby College's James R. Fleming, historian of science and technology. Long ago lightning may have brought fire to mankind. Today lightning fixes nitrogen in the air, creating natural fertilizer, and ignites eco-sound forest thinning fires. Also, lightnings eletromagnetic fields aid scientists in the study of the atmosphere.