Common injuries caused by lightning include: muscle pains, broken bones, cardiac arrest, confusion, hearing loss, seizures, burns, behavioral changes, and ocular cataracts. Loss of consciousness is very common immediately after a strike.
Lightning strikes
It felt like a horse hit you in the back of the head, like a mule kick,” he said. “It was almost like getting the wind knocked out of you by a Mack truck.” Immediately afterward, Fasciglione said he felt energized, his entire body tight, ears ringing and then went numb.
A jolting, excruciating pain. “My whole body was just stopped—I couldn't move any more,” Justin recalls. “The pain was … I can't explain the pain except to say if you've ever put your finger in a light socket as a kid, multiply that feeling by a gazillion throughout your entire body.
But the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are less than one in a million, and almost 90% of all lightning strike victims survive.
When lightning strikes and reaches the nervous system, it can directly damage nerve cells, cause temporary paralysis and cause arteries and vessels in the brain to burst. Electricity from lightning can also cause extreme damage to the cardiovascular system, the system that includes the heart and blood vessels.
Although the vast majority of lightning strike victims survive, the effects can be serious and long-lasting. Survivors have experienced debilitating injuries, burns and ongoing disability, including symptoms like seizures and memory loss.
“It smelled like something inorganic burning, like wires or plastic.” Others have compared the odor to chlorine, cleaning supplies or, unsurprisingly, electrical sparks. Odds are, you've smelled lightning-produced ozone before. You know that clean, crisp smell ahead of a springtime rain? That's it.
Risk Factors for Lightning Strikes
A UQ mathematician, Professor Peter Adams, calculated that Australians have a 1 in 12,000 chance of being struck by lightning, which is more than 650 times the chance of winning the Lotto, which is one in eight million.
Because the ground current affects a much larger area than the other causes of lightning casualties, the ground current causes the most lightning deaths and injuries. Ground current also kills many farm animals.
According to a doctor, the injuries could have been much worse had it not been for the fact that they were walking hand in hand. “These two were lucky they that they were holding hands. It helped to diffuse the electrical current that ran through their bodies,” Dr.
Just before lightning actually strikes, static energy is going to fill the air. If you look at your arms, you may see the hair on your arms standing on end. You may also feel a physical tingling sensation throughout your body, especially in your extremities.
If your hair stands on end, lightning is about to strike you. Drop to your knees and bend forward but don't lie flat on the ground. Wet ground is a good conductor of electricity.
Lightning can travel 10 to 12 miles from a thunderstorm. This is often farther than the sound of thunder travels. That means that if you can hear thunder you are close enough to a storm to be in danger of being struck by lightning.
Most houses are filled with many potential routes for lightning to follow in its journey. This can include gas and water pipes, electric lines, phone lines, cable TV/internet lines, gutters, downspouts, metal window frames - anything conductive in a house is 'fair game' for the lightning to follow.
Of every 10 people struck, nine will survive. But they could suffer a variety of short- and long-term effects: cardiac arrest, confusion, seizures, dizziness, muscle aches, deafness, headaches, memory deficits, distractibility, personality changes and chronic pain, among others.
If you stay in the water, you could try to go deep, but it's unlikely you can hold your breath for long enough to avoid the danger." Fish, which usually move around at greater depths, are safer than human swimmers.
Of the capital cities, Darwin is Australia's stormiest capital city, experiencing around 54 lighting pulses per square kilometre per year. This is followed by Brisbane (26), Sydney (18), Canberra (16), Melbourne (8), Perth (4), Adelaide (3) and Hobart (1).
Thunderstorms are most frequent over the northern half of the country, and generally decrease southward, with lowest frequencies in southeast Tasmania. A secondary maximum is also apparent in southeast Queensland and over central and eastern New South Wales, extending into the northeastern Victorian highlands.
In a year, Weatherzone estimates Darwin experiences 54 lightning pulses per square kilometre — making it the most lightning-prone capital city in Australia.
ball lightning, also called globe lightning, a rare aerial phenomenon in the form of a luminous sphere that is generally several centimetres in diameter. It usually occurs near the ground during thunderstorms, in close association with cloud-to-ground lightning.
White: most powerful lightning color
White is the most dangerous color of lighting. It suggests both a low concentration of moisture and a high concentration of dust in air.
If you see a lightning bolt it can look blue, maybe purple. There's some colors that are more rare. Like you said, maybe snow lightning can look a little bit more green. But some reddish or orange or yellow lightning tends to be associated with volcanoes, which I know you're just really excited to talk about today.
Roy Cleveland Sullivan (February 7, 1912 – September 28, 1983) was an American park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Between 1942 and 1977, Sullivan was claimed to have been hit by lightning on seven occasions, surviving all of them.
The most lightning-struck location in the world
Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is the place on Earth that receives the most lightning strikes. Massive thunderstorms occur on 140-160 nights per year with an average of 28 lightning strikes per minute lasting up to 10 hours at a time.
When You See Lightning, Count The Time Until You Hear Thunder. If That Is 30 Seconds Or Less, The Thunderstorm Is Close Enough To Be Dangerous – Seek Shelter (if you can't see the lightning, just hearing the thunder is a good back-up rule). Wait 30 Minutes Or More After The Lightning Flash Before Leaving Shelter.