National Lightning Safety Awareness Week

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – This week is National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, a week that encourages people to learn, practice and prepare for being safe during thunderstorm conditions.

Muskingum County Emergency Management Agency Director Jeff Jadwin explained some of the reasons why lightning can be so dangerous.

“Lightning can strike 10 miles from where the storm is, so if you can hear thunder, the lightning can strike you. Lightning is… most people don’t consider it hot, you know it’s normally raining and the temperature’s changing but a lightning bolt can be up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit when it’s striking the ground. So that’s why they start fires, they destroy stuff,” Jadwin said.

Each year, lightning kills approximately 30 people in the U.S. and the National Weather Service has reduced the number of lightning fatalities over the past 20 years by warning people to get out of the weather when thunderstorms appear.

“Like if you’re at a baseball game or a picnic, the dugout or the shelters really aren’t good places to go,” Jadwin said. “You need to either go to a car or a building. And the buildings they say should have plumbing and electric, so that it’s grounded, so it will take a lightning strike and take it to the ground rather than to the building. So that’s something that’s very important that we need to be aware of.”

Jadwin also noted that water is an excellent electrical conductor and that a direct lightning strike can electrocute people indoors while they are taking a shower or washing dishes. 

For more information about Lightning Safety Awareness Week you can visit the National Weather Service website.