Lightning strikes are always a serious threat, no matter what season it is. For the last year, lightning strikes in the U.S. have reached an 8-year-high, according to Vaisala Xweather.

Scientists who study lightning say the more they can learn, the more society can work to protect people and property from lightning strikes and their consequences.

As particles rub together from wind friction in a thunderstorm, the charges separate and static electricity develops. The negative charges or electrons separate to the bottom of the thunderstorm, positive to the top. As these electrons zigzag down, known ...

Read full article: ‘Everything hurts:’ Teen struck by lightning while cutting grass in Seminole County The Sukhoi Superjet 100 of Gazprom Avia that crashed near Moscow on Friday, July 12, 2024 takes off at Krasnodar International Airport outside ...

Lightning develops within thunderstorms when collisions between ice particles and water droplets separate electrical charges within clouds. Once the electrical imbalance becomes too strong, energy is released as lightning either within the cloud or between the cloud and the ground.

Each year in the United States, lightning strikes an average of 300 people. A direct hit by a bolt of lightning kills about 50 people per year. Those who survive a lightning strike – with temperatures that can heat the surrounding air to 50,000 ...