Lightning Safety Week Concludes

Yesterday concluded Lightning Safety Week in the United States. The official website of the U.S. government (NOAA) on this topic is at this location, but you'll also want to check out the National Lightning Safety Institute.

RANDOM LIGHTNING PHOTOS FROM OUR GALLERY (RELOAD FOR MORE)

The message from National Lightning Safety Week really is:

Get inside, away from lightning in any of these situations:

A.) After you hear thunder
B.) As you see storm clouds gathering, or...

C.) When you receive a LightningPlus Lightning Forecast alert from AccuWeather.com LightningPlus

A FEW FACTOIDS (TM) ABOUT LIGHTNING:

#1. It's small, only 1-2" in diameter. Seems bigger doesn't it? It's just the brightness of 50,000 degrees fooling your eyes.

#2: "Dry" thunderstorms are storms in which the rain evaporates before hitting the ground, and lightning starts fires by hitting the dry timber or grass.

#3: So-called "Heat Lightning" is just distant lightning. The term comes from the fact that thunderstorms are most commonly seen in, well, the Summer (it's hot).

#4: The Top 10 states for lightning deaths are: FLORIDA, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Ohio, Colorado, Georgia, and Tennessee. This is a combination of thunderstorm propensity and population.

#5: I thought I had a cool shot of the lightning last week here in State College, PA:

But officemate "Nagelberg" bested me with this one:

#6: I'm a bit, er, obsessed with lightning, as you can see from my related blog entries over the last year:

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