Most lightning deaths in the United States occur while people are enjoying outdoor activities, with fishing the most deadly, government weather officials say.
From 2006 to 2012, 238 people died after being struck by lightning in the country — 82 percent of them male. Of the total number of victims, 152 were taking part in leisure activities, according to new findings from the National Weather Service .
Fishing topped the list with 26 lightning deaths, followed by camping with 15 deaths, boating with 14, soccer with 12 and golf with eight, NWS officials said. Other lightning victims died while at the beach, swimming, walking, running or picnicking. [Electric Earth: Stunning Images of Lightning]
Activities like fishing and camping may be most hazardous during a storm because they often require extra time to take shelter in a safe place, explained John Jensenius, a lightning safety specialist with the NWS.
"People often wait far too long to head to safety when a storm is approaching, and that puts them in a dangerous and potentially deadly situation," Jensenius said in a statement.
So far this year, seven people have been killed by lighting — three of them men who were fishing, according to NWS data.
The findings were announced as the NWS kicks off its National Lightning Safety Awareness Week just in time for summer — peak thunderstorm season.
Lightning deaths in the country have been on a decades-long decline, which experts often attribute to better education about lightning safety. Since 2001 — the year the NWS campaign launched — there have been 37 lightning deaths in the United States annually, down from an average of 73 in the years before the campaign began. (Compare that further to the 1940s, when lightning deaths averaged above 300.)
Jensenius said the NWS campaign has been especially effective in the golf community. "We believe our outreach has made a huge difference since lightning-related deaths on golf courses have decreased by 75 percent," he said in a statement.
The NWS says the best way to avoid injury or death by lightning is to monitor the weather and cancel or postpone outdoor activities when a thunderstorm is rolling in. Lightning can strike from 10 miles (16 kilometers) away and the best place to take shelter is a building with four walls and a roof, or a car — in other words, a hut, cabana or tent will not save you from a flash of lightning, the NWS says.
Lightning from a tornadic thunderstorm passing over Clearwater, Kansas
strikes at an open field May 19, 2013. REUTERS/Gene Blevins
Lightning strikes near the town of Searchlight, Nevada as the first
storm of the season passes through the western deserts of the United
States in the early hours of June 8, 2006. REUTERS/Gene Blevins
Lightning strikes across the skies of Patterson, Arkansas April 10,
2013. Many of the storms in Tornado Alley that were forecast to be
severe this week were taken out by a cold front from Canada. Picture
taken April 10, 2013. REUTERS/Gene Blevins (UNITED STATES - Tags:
ENVIRONMENT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTXYI0W
Lightning strikes over buildings during a thunderstorm in Belgrade June 8, 2011. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
Lightning flashes in the sky in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, May 22,
2013. Heavy rainfall since Saturday has killed two people in south
China's Guangdong Province, bringing the death toll resulting from
rainstorms to 36 this year, as of Tuesday, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Picture taken May 22, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer
An armoured vehicle
from the Centurion Company, 2-1 Infantry Battalion, 5/2 Stryker Brigade
Combat Team is framed by a bolt of lightning during a storm at Combat
Outpost Terminator in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province April 19,
2010. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne
Lightning strikes just south of the
McCarran International Airport air traffic control tower in Las Vegas,
Nevada, during a powerful thunderstorm.
Lightning strikes the CN Tower during a thunderstorm in Toronto May 29, 2011. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Lightning bolts strike around the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain
near southern Osorno city June 5, 2011. The volcano in the
Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain, dormant for decades, erupted in
south-central Chile on Saturday, belching ash over 6 miles (10 km) into
the sky, as winds fanned it toward neighboring Argentina, and prompted
the government to evacuate several thousand residents, authorities said.
REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado (CHILE - Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER IMAGES OF THE
DAY) - RTR2NCAE less
Lightning flashes around the ash plume at
above the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain near Entrelagos June 5,
2011. The volcano in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain, dormant for
decades, erupted in south-central Chile on Saturday, belching ash over 6
miles (10 km) into the sky, as winds fanned it toward neighboring
Argentina, and prompted the government to evacuate several thousand
residents, authorities said. Picture taken June 5. REUTERS/Carlos
Gutierrez (CHILE - Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER IMAGES OF THE DAY) FOR
BEST QUALITY IMAGE: ALSO SEE GM1E77L02MK01. - RTR2NDD9 less
Volcanic lightning or a dirty thunderstorm is seen above Shinmoedake
peak as it erupts, between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in this
photo taken from Kirishima city and released by Minami-Nippon Shimbun
January 28, 2011. Ash and rocks fell across a wide swathe of southern
Japan straddling the prefectures of Miyazaki and Kagoshima on Thursday,
as one of Mount Kirishima's many calderas erupted, prompting authorities
to raise alert levels and call on for an evacuation of all residents
within a 2 km (1.2 miles) radius of the volcano. REUTERS/Minami-Nippon
Shimbun/Handout less
Usher Brent Mole stands along a wall as
lightning strikes across the sky during a storm delay for the MLB
National League baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and New York
Mets at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia June 15, 2011. REUTERS/Tami
Chappell (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SPORT BASEBALL IMAGES OF THE
DAY) - RTR2NPLO
Lightning strikes over a church tower during a thunderstorm in Zurich August 18, 2011. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
Lightning strikes over the skyline of Tel Aviv during a rain storm November 22, 2012. REUTERS/Nir Elias
Lightning flashes during a thunderstorm over Mexico City April 11, 2012. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
Lightnings strike over buildings during a thunderstorm in Berlin, June 29, 2012. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski
Lightning is seen during a storm under the Memorial Center in Potocari
the night before a mass burial, near Srebrenica July 10, 2012. The
bodies of 520 recently identified victims of the Srebrenica massacre
will be buried on July 11, the anniversary of the massacre when Bosnian
Serb forces commanded by Ratko Mladic slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men and
boys and buried them in mass graves, in Europe's worst massacre since
World War Two. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic (BOSNIA - Tags: CONFLICT POLITICS
ANNIVERSARY ENVIRONMENT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR34T49 less
Lighting strikes over a barn surrounded by a soybean crop in Donnellson,
Iowa, July 13, 2012. U.S. ranchers are rushing to sell off some of
their cattle as the worst drought in nearly 25 years dries up pastures,
thins hay supplies and sends feed costs sky-rocketing. The drought in
the Midwest follows another one last year in the southern Plains.
REUTERS/Adrees Latif (UNITED STATES - Tags: AGRICULTURE BUSINESS
COMMODITIES ENVIRONMENT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR34WVP less
Lighting strikes over Saint Joseph cathedral during a storm in Hanoi July 14, 2012. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Lightning is seen in the sky above the Christopher Columbus monument at
Madrid's Colon Square July 26, 2012. REUTERS/Juan Medina
Lightning strikes over a house during a thunderstorm in the northern
Swiss town of Muellheim August 20, 2012. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
A
Muslim pilgrim gestures, as lightning strikes in the background, at the
top of Mount Noor where Muslims believe Prophet Mohammad received the
first words of the Koran through Gabriel, during the annual haj
pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca October 21, 2012. REUTERS/Amr
Abdallah Dalsh (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: RELIGION TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) -
RTR39ESN
Lightning strikes over a pier during a storm in Atlit,
near the northern Israeli city of Haifa October 25, 2012. REUTERS/Baz
Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR39KT9
A lightning bolt strikes during a thunderstorm over Shanghai, China
July 6, 2005. Residents in Shanghai had ten scorching summer days with
temperature hitting 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
REUTERS/Aly Song ALF/JK - RTRGKKD
Lightning strikes across the
skies of Twentynine Palms in California during monsoon August 8, 2005.
Heavy rain continue to pound on the southern Californian desert for the
third week. REUTERS/Gene Blevins kw/GB - RTRJXX0
The New York Times building is struck by lightning in New York June 10, 2008. REUTERS/Nic Fulton
Lightning strikes the Tokyo Tower in the Japanese capital September 7, 2008. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
Lightning illuminates the sky offshore Beirut October 29,2008 during a thunderstorm over Lebanon. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
Lightning strikes over a construction site during a heavy storm in Bucharest July 11, 2007. REUTERS/Mihai Barbu
Lightning strikes across the skies of Twentynine Palms in California during monsoon August 8, 2005. Heavy rain continue to pound on the southern Californian desert for the third week. - RTXNO2I
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