Harardous Weather Week Begins Monday

Starting Monday the state of Florida will begin its Hazardous Weather Week. Monday will be dedicated to lightning. Below is the Public Information Statement from the NWS with lightning information for all of us.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
330 PM EST SAT JAN 31 2009

...FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK...
...MONDAY FEBRUARY 2 IS LIGHTNING AWARENESS DAY...

LIGHTNING IS ONE OF NATURE'S DEADLIEST AND MOST UNPREDICATABLE
PHENOMENA. METEOROLOGISTS CAN ACCURATELY FORECAST THE GENERAL
CONDITIONS THAT WILL CAUSE LIGHTNING, BUT NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE
EXACTLY WHERE AND WHEN ONE WILL STRIKE.

DURING ANY GIVEN YEAR, AN AVERAGE OF 2 PEOPLE ARE KILLED BY
LIGHTNING IN SOUTH FLORIDA, WITH AN ADDITIONAL 9 PEOPLE INJURED.
DURING 2008, SOUTH FLORIDA WAS VERY FORTUNATE IN THAT NO ONE WAS
REPORTED TO BE KILLED BY LIGHTNING STRIKES. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME
IN 4 YEARS THAT NO REPORTED LIGHTNING DEATHS WERE OBSERVED, AND ONLY
THE THIRD TIME SINCE 1970. DESPITE THE LACK OF DEATHS, 11 PEOPLE
WERE INJURED LAST YEAR BY LIGHTNING STRIKES, TWO ABOVE THE YEARLY
AVERAGE. THIS MEANS THAT ALTHOUGH LIGHTNING ISN'T ALWAYS DEADLY, IT
ONLY TAKES A NEAR MISS TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT SOMEONE'S LIFE.

ONE ASPECT OF LIGHTNING THAT IS COMMON IN SOUTH FLORIDA BUT CAN BE
DECEIVING IS THE PERCEPTION THAT LIGHTNING ONLY STRIKES WHEN DARK
CLOUDS ARE DIRECTLY OVERHEAD. SEVERAL CASES IN THE PAST FEW YEARS
HAVE PROVEN THIS TO BE FALSE. LIGHTNING COMMONLY STRIKES SEVERAL
MILES AWAY FROM THE HEAVY RAIN AREA OF THE THUNDERSTORM, AND IN SOME
CASES CAN STRIKE UP TO 10 MILES AWAY OR MORE! THIS TYPE OF LIGHTNING
IS MISLEADINGLY REFERRED TO AS DRY LIGHTNING OR BOLTS FROM THE BLUE,
BUT THEY STRIKE FROM THE SIDES OF THE CLOUDS AND ARE JUST AS STRONG
AS THOSE THAT OCCUR IN THE MIDDLE OF A HEAVY DOWNPOUR. THEREFORE,
THE GREATEST DANGER OFTEN COMES WITH THE FIRST OR LAST FLASH WHEN
PEOPLE LEAST EXPECT IT.

PEOPLE SHOULD HEAD INSIDE WHEN DARKENING CLOUDS APPEAR. A GOOD RULE
OF THUMB TO USE IS THE 30-30 RULE TO PREVENT BEING STRUCK BY
LIGHTNING. THIS MEANS HEADING INDOORS WHENEVER THUNDER IS HEARD 30
SECONDS OR LESS AFTER THE LIGHTNING IS OBSERVED, AND REMAINING
INSIDE UNTIL 30 MINUTES AFTER THE LAST CLAP OF THUNDER IS HEARD.

RECENT STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT TEENAGE BOYS ARE THE MOST LIKELY
GROUP TO BE KILLED BY LIGHTNING IN FLORIDA. THE AGE GROUP FROM 10 TO
19 YEARS OF AGE HAS THE GREATEST NUMBER OF DEATHS, FOLLOWED BY THOSE
IN THEIR 30S AND 20S. THE NUMBER OF 10 TO 19 YEAR OLD LIGHTNING
DEATHS IS GREATER THAN THE NUMBER OF LIGHTNING DEATHS OF THOSE 40
AND OLDER.

LIGHTNING ALSO CAUSES MORE THAN ITS SHARE OF PROPERTY DAMAGE. DAMAGE
IN 2008 FROM LIGHTNING TOTALLED ABOUT $70,000 IN SOUTH FLORIDA
ALONE.

SINCE 1959 THE THREE SOUTHEAST FLORIDA COUNTIES OF MIAMI DADE,
BROWARD AND PALM BEACH HAVE EXPERIENCED A COMBINED 92 LIGHTNING
DEATHS, THE MOST OF ANY THREE CONTIGUOUS COUNTIES IN THE UNITED
STATES. THIS INCLUDES 34 DEATHS IN MIAMI DADE COUNTY, 31 IN BROWARD
COUNTY AND 27 IN PALM BEACH COUNTY.

ALTHOUGH THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOES NOT ISSUE SPECIFIC
LIGHTNING WARNINGS...PRODUCTS SUCH AS THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
AND THE SURF FORECAST DESCRIBE THE DAILY LIGHTNING DANGER IN SOUTH
FLORIDA ON A SCALE RANGING FROM NONE...TO SLIGHT...TO MODERATE...TO
HIGH. WHEN A STORM PRODUCING EXCESSIVE LIGHTNING IS OBSERVED OR IS
IMMINENT, A SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT IS ISSUED TO ALERT OF ITS
LOCATION. CHECKING THESE PRODUCTS BEFORE VENTURING OUTSIDE CAN MAKE
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.

REMEMBER, ANY THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE A LIGHTNING FLASH WHICH CAN
KILL YOU AND THOSE NEARBY.

SOME LOCATIONS ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN OTHERS. THE GREATEST NUMBER
OF PEOPLE IN FLORIDA ARE STRUCK WHILE NEAR A BODY OF WATER. THIS
INCLUDES PEOPLE AT THE BEACH, NEAR LAKES ON FISHING PIERS AND IN
SMALL BOATS. ANOTHER VULNERABLE LOCATION IS AN OPEN AREA WITH FEW
TRESS AROUND SUCH AS A BALL FIELD, PLAYGROUND OR GOLF COURSE.
SCHOOL RELATED ACTIVITIES ALSO RATE HIGH IN LIGHTNING VULNERABILITY.
THESE INCLUDE WALKING TO AND FROM SCHOOL AND AFTER SCHOOL EVENTS.

THE INCREASING NUMBER OF HIGH RISE BUILDINGS IN SOUTH FLORIDA ALSO
PUTS CONSTRUCTION WORKERS AND EVEN RESIDENTS IN UPPER FLOORS AT A
GREATER RISK SINCE TALL OBJECTS ARE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING MUCH MORE
FREQUENTLY THAN OBJECTS CLOSE TO THE GROUND.

NO PLACE OUTDOORS IS SAFE FROM LIGHTNING. EVEN THE INSIDE OF AN
AUTOMOBILE, WHILE SAFER THAN BEING OUTSIDE, IS NOT AS SAFE AS BEING
INSIDE AN ENCLOSED BUILDING. IF PLANNING TO BE OUTDOORS, STAY
INFORMED OF THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE
SHELTER INSIDE AN ENCLOSED BUILDING IF A THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHES OR
FORMS NEARBY.

FOR FURTHER LIGHTNING INFORMATION, AS WELL AS DAILY HAZARDOUS
WEATHER OUTLOOKS WHICH INDICATE THE THREAT OF LIGHTNING OVER SOUTH
FLORIDA, AS WELL AS SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENTS, PLEASE VISIT THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIAMI WEBSITE AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/MIAMI.

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