WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF LIGHTNING STRIKES?
• Direct Strike: A bolt of lightning strikes you directly, carrying 30,000 amps, 100-million volts, and temperature potential of 50,000 degrees Fehrenheit. Needless to say, very few people survive a direct strike. • Contact Voltage: You are touching an object which is struck by lightning. Examples include direct contact with building surfaces, towers, poles, vehicle surfaces, wiring, and plumbing. • Side Flash: You are struck by a bolt of lightning that arcs to you from an object that was struck, creating a path of least resistance. • Step Voltage / Ground Streamers: Lightning strikes within 100 feet of you and the voltage jumps across the ground, wet pavement, pools of water, or other electrical pathways to touch you as well. The vast majority of lightning casualties are from the indirect effects of contact voltage, side flash, and step voltage or ground streamers; NOT direct strikes. * WHO GETS STRUCK THE MOST? Of those killed by lightning in Florida: 98% were outdoors. 89% were male
