Video: Summer Brings The Lightning Strike

GOLDEN TRIANGLE – Summer heat brings outdoor activity, but it also fires up summer storms. Storms that can bring a lot of lightning.

Although being struck by lightning is rare, it still happens, and so far this year, around two dozen people have been killed by lighting strikes across the country.

According to the Jackson National Weather Service, June, July, and August are when the most lightning deaths happen, and
since we’re in one of those months, here are some important facts to know.

Large, bold, and bright, and dangerous if it’s in site.

“A lightning bolt is so small relatively to even a county, much less a state or anything else, so I mean your chances of getting struck by lightning are so low, but if you happen to get struck, you know, the lightning bolt, the temperature is about five times the surface of the sun,” says WCBI Meteorologist Isaac Williams.

Williams says if you hear thunder, then you’re close enough to be struck, even if a storm is miles away.

“It’s very dangerous, and it can obviously kill, but people do survive too, and that’s just the luck of the draw perhaps, but it’s very rare. It’s just like a tornado striking your house, the odds are so low, but you have to prepare in case your faced with situation like that.”

Williams says when thunder roars, you simply go indoors.

“If you can’t get indoors, and you’re in a situation where you have to stay outdoors, we try to tell people to get away from tall objects, get away from trees, and try to seek shelter as fast as possible, when it’s safe to do so.”

Doctors say it’s rare to treat lightning strike victims.

“It’s not something that we see commonly, a lot. There’s a pretty good bit of public awareness about that, and people are pretty good about getting off the golf course, and getting off of the baseball fields when the weather starts acting up, and so that’s decreased the amount that we see,” says OCH Regional Medical Center Dr. John Maples.

When they do treat lightning strike victims, they check for two things.

“The main thing that we’re worried about is the arrhythmia of the heart, so we’re checking on EKG, looking to make sure they don’t have that going on. Keep them on a cardiac monitor, and looking their skin over to see if they have burns on them,” says Maples.