Lightning is among the most awesome and frightening phenomenon known to man. In the US an average of about 100 people die from lightning strikes each year and about 250 are injured. About 30% of lightning strikes to humans result in death.

The sports activities that are associated with the highest number of lightning injuries and deaths are water sports, golf, camping, hiking, baseball and football.  Most fatalities occur in water-related activities such as swimming, fishing, and boating. The risk exists not only in water, but also next to lakes, rivers and on beaches.

LIGHTNING FACTOIDS

° A lightning stroke discharges about a 100 million volts of electricity and travels at 87,000 MPH.
° The temperature along the lightning path is about 54,000 degrees F (30,000 C), six times hotter than the sun's surface (9,940 degrees F).
° The sudden air expansion creates a shockwave which is heard as thunder.
• The average lightning bolt is about an inch wide and five miles long. The longest lightning bolt ever recorded crossed 118 miles in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.
• Lightning can strike like a "bolt from the blue: —from a clear sky without threatening clouds. However, the source of lightning is a parent thunderstorm that coulde be 25 miles away from the lightning strike.
° Time in seconds from lightning flash to thunder divided by 5 = Distance in miles from lightning source.