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| June 22 - 28, 2008 |
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So
there you are outdoors. Whether it's a baseball game, putting laundry on a clothesline or
attending a graduation ceremony...you could become vulnerable. How? While you are
keeping track of the score, you may lose track of the weather. |
| Lightning tends to catch people off guard. It is
quiet...but it is also deadly. In fact, lightning kills more people than tornadoes in an
average year in the United States. |
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| In Arkansas, there were 116 deaths and 275 injuries due to lightning from
1959 to 1999. Statistics show that the deaths and injuries occurred mostly in the
Summer months...when people are most likely to be outdoors. Check out the
statistics below...
| Arkansas
Lightning Statistics...1959-1999 |
| |
Deaths |
Injuries |
| January |
0 |
2 |
| February |
0 |
3 |
| March |
8 |
4 |
| April |
0 |
29 |
| May |
13 |
34 |
| June |
35 |
67 |
| July |
30 |
48 |
| August |
23 |
72 |
| September |
6 |
13 |
| October |
0 |
1 |
| November |
0 |
0 |
| December |
1 |
2 |
|
| More recently, two people lost their lives in December, 2007 when lightning burned
down their home at Diaz (Jackson County). Also in 2007, a man was injured by lightning while working on a farm a few miles northeast
of Damascus (Van Buren County). |
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Where does lightning come from? Lightning is a
part of an atmospheric battery surrounding a
thunderstorm. It is produced due to the magnetic attraction
between the base of a storm
cloud (negative charge) and the ground (positive charge). |
| To go from cloud to ground, lightning must
travel through air...a poor conductor of electricity. To
make a connection, lightning will tend to go the shortest
distance possible. Given this, lightning tends to
strike tall objects such as buildings, antennas and
trees. |
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Away from the city and in open fields,
the tallest objects may be you or your pets! |
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In the picture: Lightning struck a metallic fence, with the
current traveling along the fence. Cows touching the fence were killed. The picture is courtesy
of Ruth Lyon-Bateman.
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| So now that you know the facts, how do you protect yourself from
lightning? Education is the key to understanding lightning and to avoid becoming a
statistic. For years, the National Weather Service has provided
information to the public about lightning in hopes that citizens could
make life saving decisions when confronted by lightning. Now the National
Weather Service is taking it one step further. |
| In the poster to right: Professional golfer
Rocco Mediate helped promote the new "Lightning Kills, Play It Safe" campaign
started by the National Weather Service. |
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| The National Weather Service is so serious about lightning
that it started a new public awareness campaign a few years ago called "Lightning
Kills, Play It Safe." The campaign was designed to
increase lightning awareness and decrease lightning deaths and injuries. Several people
lended a hand to promote the campaign...including professional golfer Rocco
Mediate. |
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For more on lightning...there is a very useful website available. To go
to the website, click here. |
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www.weather.gov
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