Lightning Safety Tips

On average, lightning causes as many deaths annually as tornadoes and hurricanes combined. Except for flash floods, lightning kills more people in the United States than any other meteorological phenomenon.

  • Do not become a victim of your hesitation.
  • If you see threatening clouds approach, see lightning or hear thunder, seek safe shelter immediately
  • While working or playing outdoors everyone should keep their eyes and ears to the sky

National Weather Service officials note that if you can hear the sound of thunder, you are within range of a lightning strike. Lightning can travel horizontally up to 10 miles in any direction, which means that a thunderstorm need not be directly overhead, nor does it need to be raining to produce lightning in an area.