Lightning Safety Awareness Week

June 24-30 is Lightning Safety Awareness Week and the National Weather Service (NWS) has launched its annual lightning safety campaign, which delivers a simple message: If you can hear thunder, lightning is close enough to strike you. Go inside. “It’s tragic when people die because they stayed on the water fishing or on the golf course 1 minute longer than they should have,” says NWS’s Donna Franklin. 

Lightning kills 54 people per year in the U.S., and it strikes hundreds more who often suffer life-long debilitating injuries. According to NWS, about 80% of lightning victims are male, and about 60% of victims are struck when participating in sports or leisure activities. NWS has developed three unique lightning safety toolkits:

1) The large outdoor event venues toolkit targets places such as sports stadiums, amusement parks, fairgrounds and golf courses.

2) The outdoor community preparedness kit addresses facilities, such as parks and swimming pools.

3) The beach patrols and lifeguards kit, which has been adopted by the U.S. Lifesaving Association, focuses on beach locations.

Find the kits and more lightning safety information here.