Watching Summer Lightning Shows... Safely

August is the heart of Florida’s rainy season. On a typical summer afternoon, towering puffy clouds build on the horizon before producing the thunder, lightning, and rain that many of us associate with summer.

For lifelong Floridians, these daily storms are familiar and almost comforting. For newcomers and visitors, they can be surprising. Either way, lightning is one of nature’s most fascinating (and dangerous) phenomena.

WHY DOES FLORIDA GET SO MUCH LIGHTNING?

Florida is often called the lightning capital of the United States. The highest frequency of cloud-to-ground lightning in Florida occurs in the stretch of land between Tampa and Orlando … which includes us, here in Polk County!

Florida is surrounded by warm water and receives intense sunshine throughout the summer. As the land heats up, warm air rises and cooler air from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean moves inland. These sea breezes help fuel the afternoon thunderstorms that are so common across the state. In Central Florida, where sea breezes from both coasts often meet, thunderstorms can become especially active.

WHAT IS LIGHTNING?

Lightning is a giant electrical discharge in the atmosphere.

Inside a thunderstorm cloud, water droplets, ice crystals, and hail collide, creating areas of positive and negative electrical charge. When the difference becomes large enough, electricity suddenly moves between clouds or between the clouds and the ground.

The air around a lightning channel can briefly become hotter than the surface of the sun. This intense heating causes the surrounding air to expand rapidly, producing the sound we know as thunder.

Put simply, lightning is a massive electrical discharge that occurs within a storm cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. Thunder is the sound created by that spark. Without lightning, there is no thunder.

LIGHTNING’S ROLE IN NATURE

Although lightning can be dangerous, it also plays an important role in Florida’s ecosystems.

For thousands of years, lightning has been one of Florida’s primary natural sources of fire ignition in our ecosystems. These natural fires help recycle nutrients, reduce accumulated vegetation, and maintain habitats such as longleaf pine forests, sandhills, and pine flatwoods.

STAYING SAFE

Lightning can cause serious injury, damage buildings, and destroy electronics. One of the biggest misconceptions is that danger only exists when it is raining overhead. In reality, lightning can strike 8-10 miles away from a storm and even when the skies above you are blue and sunny!

It’s also worth remembering that lightning does not need to strike you directly to cause injury. A nearby strike can send electrical current through the ground, especially in wet soil or water.

A note about counting “Mississippi”: Many of us learned to count the seconds between lightning and thunder to estimate a storm’s distance. That’s fine for satisfying your curiosity, but I often see people use those calculations to justify staying outside longer. Remember, every five seconds equals roughly one mile. If you can hear thunder, you can continue debating the math … after you head inside.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: WHEN THUNDER ROARS, GO INDOORS.

If you hear thunder, move to a substantial building or a fully enclosed vehicle. Avoid pavilions, tents, dugouts, boats, and isolated trees. If you’re fishing, hiking, camping, participating in or coaching youth sports, or spending time at the beach, watch for warning signs that a thunderstorm is developing:

• Darkening clouds

• Shifting winds

• A drop in temperature

• Distant thunder

Before heading outdoors, have a lightning plan. Know where the nearest safe shelter is and how quickly you can reach it.

Florida’s weather has a reputation for being fickle and changing every five minutes. That may be the case but remember lightning can strike well away from the heaviest rain and even beyond the edge of the storm. Once in a safe lightning location, remain there until at least 30 minutes after the last sound of thunder.

A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

Living in Florida means learning to live with thunderstorms. By paying attention to changing weather conditions and planning ahead, we can safely enjoy Florida’s lakes, trails, parks, and natural areas throughout the summer.

If you’ve been here a while, I hope you learned something new about lightning that you can share with friends and family next time you’re watching nature’s fireworks during the next summer storm.

If you’re new – well, you’ll get used to the rain, the lightning, the frequently changing weather, and believe it or not I truly believe you’ll come to love our rainy season in Florida.

As we move through the peak of storm season here in Polk County, please take a few minutes to talk with your family about lightning safety. Consider your usual outdoor activities and discuss what a ‘safe shelter’ location looks like with kids. A simple plan today could prevent a tragedy tomorrow.

For more information about lightning safety, including a link to the Naturally Florida podcast’s All About Lightning episode, visit my webpage at go.ufl.edu/HAVENLKLD.