![]() ![]() The National Weather Service said generally, there’s a significant lightning threat within 6 to 10 miles of the base of a thundercloud. Danger zones during lightning: Trees, fields, high places, water.Some of those flashes strike directly under the storm where it is raining, but some of the flashes reach out away from the storm where people perceive the lightning threat to be low or nonexistent, and catch people by surprise.” “Each one of those flashes is a potential killer. “Each year, thunderstorms produce an estimated 20 to 25 million cloud-to-ground lightning flashes in the United States,” NWS reported in an article about lightning safety and outdoor sports activities. It’s important to take the threat of lightning seriously and seek the safest shelter available. While lightning injuries are relatively rare, lightning is still one of the top three storm-related killers in the U.S. Only about 10 percent of people struck by lightning die from the voltage. NWS data shows the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are one in 1.2 million, but drops to one in 15,300 for the chance of being struck within an 80-year lifetime. Almost two-thirds were “enjoying outdoor leisure activities” before they were struck, including 20 campers. ![]() ![]() More than 70 percent of those deaths were in the months of June, July and August - described as “peak months” for lightning activity and outdoor recreation. There were 418 people struck and killed by lightning across the country from 2006 to 2019, the National Lightning Safety Council reported last year. per year from 1989 to 2018, but just 17 lightning deaths nationwide in 2020. The National Weather Service reported an average of 43 lightning deaths in the U.S. There have been only 14 other fatalities and 72 injuries from lightning in California since 1950, according to data through this spring from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information. How many people are hit by lightning in U.S.“It causes you to reflect,” said Andy Cornett, a pastor who was the first to come upon Torchia on the trail after he was hit. A search and rescue leader involved in responding to the call said the fatal strike could have been the first of the storm that afternoon. Several hikers said they didn’t see other lightning in that area that day. Trees are among the most frequently-struck objects by lightning. Family said Torchia was only near the tree briefly. A tree beside Torchia was also hit by lightning. “I don’t think this poor hiker who died was at fault at all,” said Stacy Corless, but his death has still become a “serious reminder” to “do all I can to be safe in the mountains.”Ĭorless was within a mile of where Nicholas Torchia was struck and killed by lightning on July 30 while he was backpacking in the John Muir Wilderness of eastern Fresno County. A lightning strike earlier this summer in the Sierra Nevada that killed a 37-year-old Fresno man is prompting some to think more about how to stay safe during thunderstorms. ![]()
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