Facts About Lightning You Probably Don't Know
- Mutual Assurance Society
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
U.S. insurers paid $1.04 billion in lightning-related homeowners insurance claims in 2024. This is the first year in a long time that the number and severity of claims decreased, pointing to an increased awareness and preventative steps homeowners took to protect their homes.
With awareness in mind, here are some statistics about lightning that you may not know and may help, in some cases, keep you safer. For example, a lightning-producing storm can be over 11 miles away from you, and a bolt can travel to where you are outside sipping your tea and strike you. So the next time you are on the beach or golf course and see a storm approaching, it's best to take cover and not risk serious harm.
Of the top 10 states for Homeowner's insurance lightning losses, our neighbor to the south, North Carolina, comes in fifth with over $30 million in claims at an average of $11,771 per claim. Florida, Texas, California, and Georgia (in that order) are ahead of the Tarheel state. No data is currently available on Virginia claims, but as with all things state-ranking-wise, Virginia is likely in the middle of the pack.
Lightning doesn't actually travel at the speed of light. The flashes we see do (670,000,000 mph), but electricity/power travels at only 270,000 mph.
The location with the most lightning strikes in the world is Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. Thunderstorms here occur 140-160 nights yearly, with an average of 28 strikes per minute. Some storms last up to 10 hours, equating to 40,000 strikes in one night.
Helicopters can cause lightning. While flying, a copter acquires a negative charge. When it passes through an area that is positively charged (like the base of a cumulonimbus cloud) it can trigger a lightning strike.
There are 1.4 billion lightning strikes every year. That's 44 strikes every second. In the United States alone, lightning hits the ground 40 million times yearly.
Lightning destroys trees, but it can help other plants grow. The extreme heat of a lightning strike causes nitrogen to bond with oxygen, creating nitrogen oxides. These oxides combine with moisture in the air that falls as rain and waters plants with nitrate rich water.
Lightning is one of the leading weather-related causes of death and injury in the U.S.:
From 2006 through 2021, there were 444 lightning strike deaths in the United States. Virginia has between 1 and 5 deaths from lightning each year.
Most deaths caused by lightning occur in July—by a pretty wide margin—with June next and then August.
Leisure activities such as fishing, boating, playing sports, and relaxing at the beach account for almost two-thirds of lightning deaths.
90% of strike victims survive.
Males are four times more likely than females to be struck by lightning.
The average age of a person struck by lightning is 37 years.
About one-third of lightning injuries occur indoors.
Some famous people who have been struck by lightning include Martha Stewart, Jim Caviezel, and Sharon Stone. And, legendary golfer Lee Trevino survived three separate lightning strikes during his time on the course.
The actual width of a lightning strike is only about 3/4" to 1 1/4" wide. The average length, however, is 2-3 miles. Bolts, however, can travel up to 12 miles.
The temperature of a lightning strike is 30,000°C/54,032°F. That's five times hotter than the sun. It also has as much as 1 billion Joules of energy.
While you have always thought that counting the number of seconds between seeing lightning and hearing thunder tells you how many miles away the strike is, this formula is wrong. The right way to determine the distance away is to count the seconds between the flash and the boom and then divide that number by 5.
And lastly, until the late 18th century, it was believed that ringing church bells repelled lightning. This is why many of the bells bore the inscription fulgura frango, meaning "I chase lightning." During a thunderstorm, bell ringers would run to the tower to ring the bells, one of the worst places to be in a storm. Between 1753 and 1786, 103 bell-ringers in France were struck by lightning and killed. The custom was subsequently banned.
What to Do If Your Home is Struck by Lightning
Fire and Scorching
A direct strike on your home should be called into 9-1-1 immediately, even if you don't see any fire or scorching. Fires inside the walls and in the attic can smolder for hours undetected. The fire department can use a sensor to detect heat within your walls and quickly address any issues.
If there is no fire, you should contact a professional contractor to schedule a complete inspection of your roof, chimneys, roofing shingles, siding, gutters, and walls for damage.
What Insurance Should Cover
Your homeowners policy typically covers damage from a lightning strike. If you have a professional contractor inspect your home and damage is found, Mutual Assurance will pay for the inspection and the damages. If the contractor finds no damage, the homeowner will pick up the cost for the inspection.
Please remember that keeping your homeowners policy up to date is essential for you to ensure you have the right coverage
Sources: National Weather Service, CDC, National Lightning Safety Institute, Triple I