9 Interesting Facts About Thunderstorms and Lightnings You Better Know About

In our country most thunderstorms are recorded between May and August. Some people are panicky afraid of lightning, while others are passionate about watching shooting lightning. Learn intriguing trivia about thunderstorms 😉

#1 Phones Do Not Draw Lightning

So far, cell phones have not been proven to attract lightning, or that using a smartphone during a thunderstorm increases the likelihood of being struck.

#2 Lightning Strikes Several Times

Lightning strikes several times in the same place. Skyscrapers (e.g., the Empire State Building in New York and the Willis Tower in Chicago) are most vulnerable to being hit. Lightning also does not miss the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

#3 Lightning Strike Can be Survived

The marks on the human body after being struck by lightning resemble a branching tree. They are called the Lichtenberg figure because German physicist and thinker Georg Christoph Lichtenberg conducted research on them.

#4 In the Car Safely

During a thunderstorm, one of the safest places to be is inside the car. When lightning strikes the car, the bodywork dissipates all the energy charge towards the ground (acts like a Faraday cage).

#5 High Temperature

When lightning strikes, the air around it heats up to about 30,000 degrees Celsius. The lightning itself travels at about 22,000 km/h.

#6 Lightning Strike Veteran

Roy Cleveland Sullivan (a ranger at a national park in Virginia) has been struck by lightning as many as seven times. All of the strikes he managed to survive. He died in 1983 (at age 71) from a suicide shot.

#7 Fish Don't Die

Lightning does not strike fish swimming in lakes or ponds. This is because electrical charges build up in the clouds and on the surface of bodies of water. When there is a discharge, the charges are neutralized and the water acts as a conductor. Fish, on the other hand, instinctively move toward the bottom of the lake during a storm.

#8 A Deadly Match

In 1998, a league match was taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After a lightning strike, the entire home team (11 players) got killed.

#9 Frequent Thunderstorms

About 1,800 thunderstorms and about 100 lightning strikes are reported worldwide every second.

An example is the Maracaibo Lighthouse, a place in Venezuela where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo

At the lake, lightning lasts about 10 hours a day for 140-160 days a year. However, during the rainy season, up to 260-280 lightning bolts per hour can strike near the reservoir. This is an impressive result!