- Lightning can heat the air around it to 50,000 degrees. That is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun!
- Lightning CAN strike the same object twice or more.
- Lightning is not very wide. On average the bolt is around 1 inch in diameter.
- The average length of a lightning bolt is 6 miles but some can be much longer.
- Florida is the lightning capital of the United States. Florida has 1.2 million lightning strikes per year.
- On average in the United States, there are 43 lightning-caused deaths per year.
- Around 3 billion lightning strikes hit the earth’s surface each year.
- Park ranger Roy Sullivan holds the Guinness Record for being struck by lightning more than anyone else. He was struck 7 times in his life.
- Fulminology is the study of lightning and Astraphobia is the fear of lightning.
- There is no such thing as “heat lightning.” If you see a flash of light in the distance, normally during the summer months, it is from a thunderstorm several miles away.
