How often does lightning strike the ground in the U.S. each year?
Lightning detection networks suggest that bolts blast the ground some 25 to 30 million times per year. The lightning hot spot of the U.S. is central Florida. Disneyworld could be called Lightning World. In a typical year each square mile of central Florida is struck some ten times. Most parts of the country east of the Rockies have 10 to 50% of that lightning frequency. GO TO TOP How wide is a bolt of lightning? A big lightning bolt striking the ground might seem be hundreds of feet across, but in actuality the current channel is generally not much thicker than a pencil. How far away from the lightning bolt can you hear the thunder? Generally thunder can not be heard much more than ten miles from its source. In a city, where ambient noise levels are high, often thunder is audible only when the lightning strikes a mile or two away. Can lightning come from ice? As strange as that sounds, lightning, with a temperature hotter than the surface of the sun, only forms in clouds with large qua
