Friday, February 28, 2014

Where Lightning Strikes

Source: USGS
The map is a plotting of lightning "events" over a 15-year period, arranged by county. Darker-red areas show where these events – categorized as injuries, fatalities, and instances of property and crop destruction – have tended to happen more regularly. A couple possible correlations pop out: There appears to be more lightning carnage happening near some cities and the Northeast Corridor, no doubt due to the heavier population density. And a broad red wash across Florida suggests it won't be giving up its claim as the most lightning-cursed state in the union.
It's tempting to see more event-prone counties as the ones with the most deaths; in many cases, like with the 13 fatalities logged in Florida's Broward County, it works out. But the organization that compiled this data, the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina, is drawing from a variety of sources that include things like lightning-sparked fires and damage to electrical equipment. Thus, Texas' Tarrant County had 51 events but only two fatalities. It's best to click on each county to see the breakdown (or if you want even more detail, use this advanced search engine).
In a typical year, the U.S. is zapped by more than 22 million lightning strikes that kill 55 to 60 people and injure 400.
The story has more lightning maps available for your viewing pleasure or lightning-avoidance planning.

1 comment:

  1. Hey, there is a broken link in this article, under the anchor text - the U.S. Department of Agriculture found in a 2013 report

    Here is the working link so you can replace it - https://selectra.co.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/lessmilk.pdf

    ReplyDelete