Severe Weather Awareness Week in South Carolina.......Lightning

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By Rob Fowler - email

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC

600 AM EST MON MAR 4 2013

...SOUTH CAROLINA SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK CONTINUES THROUGH

SATURDAY...

EACH DAY THIS WEEK...YOUR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON SC

WILL PROVIDE INFORMATION REGARDING SEVERE WEATHER. TODAY WE WILL

DISCUSS LIGHTNING.

REGARDLESS OF SIZE AND DURATION...ALL THUNDERSTORMS ARE DANGEROUS

BECAUSE THEY PRODUCE LIGHTNING. WHILE SOME LIGHTNING DOES NOT STRIKE

THE GROUND...CLOUD TO GROUND AND CLOUD TO WATER LIGHTNING KILLS AN

AVERAGE OF 58 PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES EACH YEAR.

WHEN A THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING CLOUD TO GROUND OR CLOUD TO WATER

LIGHTNING IS NEARBY...NO OUTDOOR LOCATION IS SAFE FOR SHELTER. IN

PARTICULAR...YOU SHOULD NOT SEEK OUTDOOR SHELTER BENEATH TALL

OBJECTS SUCH AS TREES OR TELEPHONE POLES AS LIGHTNING WILL OFTEN

STRIKE THE HIGHEST OBJECT. A GOOD RULE OF THUMB STATES THAT IF YOU

CAN HEAR THUNDER YOU CAN BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.

SOME THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE PRODIGIOUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING

STRIKES WHICH CAN CREATE POWER OUTAGES AND STRUCTURE FIRES.

HOWEVER...FREQUENCY AND IMPACT OF LIGHTNING ARE NOT INCLUDED WITHIN

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DEFINITION OF A SEVERE

THUNDERSTORM...AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS ARE NEVER ISSUED

BASED SOLELY ON LIGHTNING ACTIVITY. MORE COMMONLY...THE NATIONAL

WEATHER SERVICE INCLUDES LIGHTNING INFORMATION WITHIN WARNINGS AND

STATEMENTS WHICH OFFER OTHER CRITICAL INFORMATION ABOUT STRONG TO

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.

CHECK OUT ADDITIONAL SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK INFORMATION ON

OUR WEB PAGE AT WWW/ERH.NOAA.GOV/CHS/...AS WELL ON FACEBOOK AT

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/US.NATIONALWEATHERSERVICE.CHARLESTONSC.GOV. YOU CAN

ALSO FOLLOW @NWSCHARLESTONSC ON TWITTER.

TOMORROW WE WILL DISCUSS TORNADOES.