Tuesday, June 24, 2008

 

Lightning Safety Awareness Week: June 22-28, 2008 (Part II)

FROM: WEATHER CHANNEL

Lightning Facts:

* The temperature of the lightning channel can reach five times the temperature of the surface of the sun for a split second!

* The United States gets hit by about 30 million lighting strokes per year!

* There is about a 10% chance that lightning will strike within 100 yards of you during a year!

Lightning Myths:

* Rubber tires on cars and bicycles. It's not the rubber, it's the metal of the car that protects you. Bicycles and motorcycles are totally unsafe.

* Tennis shoes. Offer virtually no protection as insulation for lightning coming at you from above or passing toward you through the ground.

* Rain. Lightning can strike you even if it isn't raining.

* Trees. Being under a tree is one of the worst places to be. Lightning may strike the tree and carry down its trunk -- shocking you by "flashing over" from the trunk or going down into the roots and soil and into your feet.





<< Home

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]