When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors
Colorado Lightning Safety Awareness Week continues through Saturday. Yesterday we discussed the science of lightning. Today we will cover outdoor lightning safety.Outdoors is the most dangerous place to be during a thunderstorm. Each year, many people in the United States are struck by lightning while working outside, at sporting events, on the beach, mountain climbing, fishing, mowing the lawn or during other outdoor activities. In 2013, 23 people in the United States were killed and many more were survivors of a lightning strike. All of those lightning fatalities occurred outdoors.
In Colorado, since 1959 there have been 141 documented lightning fatalities and hundreds of others who were injured by lightning. In 2013 there were no documented lightning fatalities in Colorado. However, 22 people within the state were struck by lightning while outdoors and all survived.
Read the full blog post written by the National Weather Service at READYColorado.com.
