NOAA’s National Weather Service kicked off this year’s National Lightning Safety week with the release of a new study on lighting deaths in the U.S. From 2006 through 2012, 238 people were struck and killed by lightning, with two thirds of the fatalities occurring during leisure activities. Fishing tops the list of activities, accounting for 26 deaths – more than three times as many as golfing.
Most people killed during leisure activities were participating in water-related pastimes, including fishing, boating, swimming and simply spending time by a lake or on the beach. Sports contributed to 19 percent of the fatalities during leisure activities, with 12 people killed while playing soccer and eight while golfing.
"When people think of lightning deaths, they usually think of golf,"said John Jensenius, the NWS lightning safety specialist who conducted the study. “NOAA has made a concerted effort to raise lightning awareness in the golf community since we began the campaign in 2001, and we believe our outreach has made a huge difference since lightning-related deaths on golf courses have decreased by 75 percent.”
According to Jensenius, water-related deaths may be more common because participants require more time to find shelter in a storm. “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,” he said.
During the seven-year study, 82 percent of those killed by lightning were male and most victims were between the ages of 10 and 60. About 70 percent of the deaths occurred during June, July and August.
So far this year, seven people have been killed by lightning. Three of them were killed while fishing and a fourth was walking on the beach.
Interesting post… In late June a friend and I fished while a huge lightning storm moved around us. We got no rain or weather where we stood, but the rains a mile or so away were monstrous! We wondered about standing there waving long conductors…
My father was milking a cow as a youth when the barn was struck. It melted all the copper nails and dumped the slate roof shingles in neat rows along both edges of the eaves.
Certainly no surprise to me that fishing would top the list. I’ve been caught more then a couple of times in a hellish rain storm. Seems to me that fish always seem to be wildly active just moments before the fury and torrent hits; and there always will be some moron (me?) hanging in there to the very last ray of the calm just before the storm. Then, too, I’ve had a real severe thunder/lightning storm sort of sneak up on me real fast while fishing in the mountains.
They didn’t seem to include the number of participants in each activity in the study, though. X-number of people killed per 100,000 fishing vs. Y-number killed per 100,00 while golfing. (Obviously, those statistic would be hard to come by.) Or, for every 100 people killed fishing, Z were killed by lightning.
Lightning, at least at once point, accounted for a high percentage of people killed surfing, but because of the smaller number of participants in that sport vs fishing or golfing, it’s not likely to show up as very high.
Those figures would be interesting to know; but still the take away is that lightning is dangerous, be aware and take it seriously.
If I recall correctly there are more fishermen than golfers and tennis players combined. Of course, tennis players do not attempt to play in rain. This certainly contributes to the reason there are more fisherman victims.
According to an electrical engineering professor who gave a presentation on lightning, golf courses are especially susceptible to lightning strikes because of the electrical potential that exist resulting from being well fertilized and well irrigated. I would think subdivision lakes would be more susceptible than clear mountain lakes because of runoff from lawns containing fertilizer, etc.
I have been caught on lakes in my float tubes because I could not get off the lake in the time from the point when I determined I was hearing thunder until the storm was over me. I remind people frequently the fastest you can move in a float tube is really slow.
You’d better be careful with how information like this is collected, monitored and used. Otherwise, the next thing you know there’ll be some state or federal ‘Safe Act’ passed that bans or forces you to register any fishing rod longer then 6-1/2 feet. Background checks will be mandatory and you will need to have a rod that qualifies under this type of legislation, bought in one state and shipped to another, shipped by and to a federal dstributor. Also, traveling with a qualifying rod(s) to out-of-state dishing destinations may require certain permits or you may be in violation of interstate transportation of a dangerous device.
If you can hear thunder you are already to close. I was shocked twice the summer of '73 working fuel and line at the Salina, Ks airport. Never again. I am truly phobic ever since.
Greenlantern - don’t worry the odds of getting hit by lightning 3 times are phenomenally high. You’ve already had an angel on your shoulder twice (as my grandmother wouldv’e said).