Lightning seems to be striking, and even killing, lots of people this summer. What are the odds you'll get struck in your lifetime — and how can you minimize the risk?

Yahoo

3 days ago

They say lightning never strikes twice. But in recent days it seems to be striking again and again — to deadly effect.
On Wednesday, the Norwegian Ski Federation announced that Olympic skier Audun Groenvold, a bronze medalist at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, died the previous evening after lightning struck him on 'a cabin trip.' Groenvold was 49 years old.
Exactly one week earlier, a lightning bolt hit another athlete, Simon John Mariani, 28, while he was playing the 15th hole of New Jersey's Ballyowen Golf Course. Mariani 'unexpectedly' died of his injuries on Monday, according to an obituary his family posted online.
Around the same time, two Georgia teens, Joey Nelson, 18, and Randall Martin III, 19, were struck and killed while fishing in a local pond. And five people were injured by lightning near Florida's St. Augustine Pier on Saturday afternoon.
'I felt the jolt through my body,' one of the victims, Stephanie Bayliss, told News 4 in Jacksonville. 'It was a horrible pain. Everything went blank. Everything was super loud. My ears hurt, and they were muffled. As soon as the second was over, I had a splitting headache. My wife turned around to me and said, 'I just got hit in the back of the head.' I said, 'I did too.''
Here's everything you need to know to stay safe from lightning this summer.
Why are there so many lightning strikes (and deaths) right now?
The first cause is seasonal. Lightning can occur at any time of year, but since it's typically associated with thunderstorms — and thunderstorms tend to occur when the air is warm, humid and unstable — the phenomenon is most prevalent during the spring and summer months, especially across the mid-Atlantic and Sun Belt regions of the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida is considered the 'lightning capital' of the country.
Of course, people have to be around lightning to get hurt by it, and the risk is highest when they're outside (where about two-thirds of lightning injuries take place). The combination of these two factors — weather patterns and outdoor activity — makes July by far the deadliest month for lightning strikes, according to the CDC, with 147 recorded during that month from 2006 and 2021. June (99 deaths) and August (77 deaths) are a distant second and third, respectively.
The other dynamic at play could be climate change. In 2014, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found that every time the planet warms by 1°C, the number of annual lightning strikes is expected to increase by 12%. So 'for every two lightning strikes you had at the beginning of the century, we will have three at the end of the century,' one of the researchers explained at the time. Lightning fatalities in developing countries have been rising in recent years, likely as a result.
What are the odds of getting struck by lightning in your lifetime?
Low, but not zero. In 2019, the National Weather Service added the average number of annual U.S. lightning deaths over the previous decade (29) to the average number of annual lightning injuries (243) and calculated that each individual American has a one in 1.2 million chance of getting struck by lightning in any particular year — and a one in 15,300 chance of getting hit at some point during their life.
Among the factors that can indicate an increased risk, according to the CDC: gender (males are four times more likely than females to be struck by lightning); age (the average age of a person struck by lightning is 37 years); time of day (two out of three lightning deaths occur between noon and 6:00 p.m.); recreation (from 2006 through 2021, leisure activities such as fishing, boating, playing sports and relaxing at the beach accounted for almost two-thirds of lightning deaths); and occupation (work-related activities contribute to about 18% of total lightning fatalities, with farmers and ranchers at highest risk).
Almost 90% of all lightning-strike victims survive, though, so even if a bolt does hit you, chances are you won't die.
What happens to your body if you get struck by lightning?
Getting struck by lightning delivers a massive electrical pulse to the body. That can short-circuit the heart and stop it from beating. When people die from lightning, they're actually dying from cardiac arrest.
Lightning strike survivors typically experience a variety of short- and even long-term symptoms. Burns can affect skin and sometimes internal tissues — though brief heat exposure (lightning only lasts a fraction of a millisecond) can limit the damage. Eardrums may be ruptured. Cataracts often develop, sometimes as much as a year later.
The nervous system can be affected as well, with victims reporting headache, nausea, stomach upset and other post-concussion types of symptoms; mild confusion, memory slowness or mental clouding; even dizziness and loss of balance. Longer term, survivors can have trouble with mental processing; some may experience personality change or depression.
How to avoid getting hit by lightning
About 40 million lightning strikes reach the ground each year in the U.S. To avoid getting hit, shelter in a substantial building or hard-topped vehicle with the windows rolled up at the first sign of a thunderstorm, and remain there until the storm has passed. Rain shelters, small sheds, balconies and porches are not safe. Don't use rain as your guide; lightning can strike 10 miles ahead of a storm and linger after a downpour has ended. Remain inside for 30 minutes after the last rumble of thunder.
If you can't get inside, do whatever you can to avoid tall structures (rooftops, scaffolding, utility poles, ladders, trees, large equipment) and conductive materials (metal, utility lines, water, water pipes, plumbing).
And even if you can get inside, make sure to avoid metal, wiring and plumbing as well. When lightning strikes a home or building, it often follows the wiring or plumbing to ground. Don't touch anything that's plugged into an outlet or connected to outside doors or windows.
Finally, if someone you know is unfortunate enough to get struck by lightning, call 911 immediately, monitor the victim in the meantime and use CPR if necessary. Lightning survivors do not carry an electrical charge, so they are safe to touch.