Lightning lessons: In Florida, the chances of being struck are higher than anywhere else

Lightning dancing around the summer sky can be spectacular, stunning, breathtaking and provide the ultimate photo opportunity.

Lightning can also be deadly.

In fact, Florida, sometimes referred to as the "Lightning Capital of the World", can be particularly dangerous and deadly in the summer and into the fall. USA TODAY reports Florida leads the nation in lightning deaths with 85 since 2006. Texas is second.

As the weather transitions to the rainy season this month, it means more lightning and more chance for injury or death if you don't follow basic safety protocols.

How many people have died from a lightning strike in 2023?

There has already been one death caused by lightning this year in 2023. On April 16, lightning struck Peter Strong, 39, who was on a boat in Brevard County. According to the National Lightning Safety Council, there have been five deaths in the U.S. in 2023 caused by lightning:

• On May 15, Matthew Boggs, 34, was holding the hand of his 6-year-old son, Grayson, as he walked his two boys home from the school bus stop in Valley Mills, Texas. Lightning struck Boggs, fatally wounding him and gravely wounding Grayson. Grayson died on June 16 from his injuries.
• On April 15, lightning was blamed for the death of a man in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Here are some frequently asked questions about lighting with information from the National Lightning Safety Council and the National Weather Service:

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1-What are the odds of becoming a lightning victim?

According to the National Lightning Safety Council, your odds depend on your behavior when thunderstorms are in the area. If you take the lightning threat seriously and always get inside before lightning becomes a threat, your personal odds of being struck are near zero. However, if you ignore the lightning threat or take chances when thunderstorms are in the area, your odds of being struck are much higher.

Lightning not only affects the person that is struck, but also the person’s family and relatives.Lightning injuries can be life-long, devastating, and very costly.

2-What should I do if there is no place to go indoors when there is lightning?

There is little you can do to substantially reduce your risk if you are outside in a thunderstorm. The only completely safe action is to get inside a safe building or vehicle. If you can't get inside, here are some tips:

• Avoid open fields, the top of a hill or a ridge top.
• Stay away from tall, isolated trees or other tall objects. If you are in a forest, stay near a lower stand of trees.
• If you are in a group, spread out to avoid the current traveling between group members.
• If you are camping in an open area, set up camp in a valley, ravine or other low area. Remember, a tent offers NO protection from lighting.
• Stay away from water, wet items, such as ropes, and metal objects, such as fences and poles. Water and metal do not attract lightning but they are excellent conductors of electricity. The current from a lightning flash will easily travel for long distances.

3-What is lightning?

Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere or between the atmosphere and the ground. In the initial stages of development, air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges in the cloud and between the cloud and the ground; however, when the differences in charges becomes too great, this insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a rapid discharge of electricity that we know as lightning. There's so much to learn about lightning.

4-How hot is lightning?

Technically, lightning is the movement of electrical charges and doesn't have a temperature; however, resistance to the movement of these electrical charges causes the materials that the lightning is passing through to heat up. If an object is a good conductor of electricity, it won't heat up as much as a poor conductor. Air is a very poor conductor of electricity and gets extremely hot when lightning passes through it. In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times hotter than the surface of the sun).

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5-Why don't fish die when lightning strikes water?

Before a lightning strike, a charge builds up along the water's surface. When lightning strikes, most of electrical discharge occurs near the water's surface. Most fish swim below the surface and are unaffected. Although scientists don't know exactly just how deep the lightning discharge reaches in water, it's very dangerous to be swimming or boating during a thunderstorm.

6-What about lightning and airplanes?

Commercial transport passenger planes are hit by lightning an average of one or two times a year. They are designed and built to have conducting paths through the plane to take the lightning strike and conduct the currents. Actually, aircraft often initiate the strike because their presence enhances the ambient electric fields typical for thunderstorms and facilitates electrical breakdown through air.

When it is suspected that a plane was hit by lightning, there is a mandatory inspection for damage, which can delay flights and be quite expensive. For that reason, as well as for turbulence, they avoid thunderstorms as much as possible. However, many planes are not required to be designed for protection from lightning. These include small private and experimental aircraft. There has not been a lightning-caused commercial transport airplane crash in many decades, but that's not true of the other groups of aircraft.

7-How powerful is lightning?

A typical lightning flash is about 300 million Volts and about 30,000 Amps. In comparison, household current is 120 Volts and 15 Amps. 

8-What is heat lightning?

The term heat lightning is commonly used to describe lightning from a distant thunderstorm just too far away to see the actual cloud-to-ground flash or to hear the accompanying thunder. While many people incorrectly think that heat lightning is a specific type of lightning, it is simply the light produced by a distant thunderstorm.

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9-Does crouching make you safer, like if I am on a golf course and there is lightning?

Crouching doesn't make you any safer outdoors. Run to a substantial building or hard topped vehicle. If you are too far to run to one of these options, you have no other good alternative. You are NOT safe anywhere outdoors. See the National Weather Service's safety page for tips that may slightly reduce your risk.

10-When a lightning victim is electrified, when I touch them will I be electrocuted?

The human body does not store electricity. It is perfectly safe to touch a lightning victim to give them first aid. This is the most chilling of lightning Myths. Imagine if someone died because people were afraid to give CPR! When tending to a lightning victim, be aware of the continued threat for lightning, and move yourself and the victim to a safe location as soon as it is possible.