{"id":10692,"date":"2016-01-14T15:04:01","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T15:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.viamedic.com\/blog\/?p=823"},"modified":"2013-01-14T15:04:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-14T15:04:01","slug":"lightning-deaths-on-the-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/current-health-news\/lightning-deaths-on-the-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning Deaths on the Decline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Only 28 lightning deaths were reported in 2012 — one the safest years in many decades. Urban growth is being cited as a factor.\u00a0—\u00a0Click to Tweet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lightning<\/a>
Lightning strikes happen thousands — hundreds of thousands — of times a year, but last year only 28 people were killed by them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While 28 deaths<\/a> may sound like a lot, this actually represents one of the safest years for lightning deaths in years. The number of lightning deaths have been on a steady decline since the 1940\u2019s. Before 1940, there was an average of 300 lightning-related deaths per year.<\/p>\n

Even though the population has continued to balloon since the 1940\u2019s, which would conceivably mean more chances for lightning deaths, researchers believe that people are becoming more knowledgeable on lightning safety. This knowledge has helped lightning deaths to become less common; in fact, lighting deaths only accounted for 20.1 percent of storm deaths between 1982 and 2011.<\/p>\n

When Thunder Roars, Head Indoors<\/strong>
\nThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has\u00a0attempted<\/a>\u00a0to keep track of the curve of lightning strikes, but because lightning is so unpredictable, it\u2019s a tough gig.<\/p>\n

\"Of<\/a>
Of all the lightning-related deaths since 1995, over 95% of them were men. Men, it seems, are less likely to heed the good advice of the NOAA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the number of lightning deaths have been on the decline, there have been a couple years when the number of deaths would ebb and flow. Still, these changes don\u2019t stop the NOAA from attempting to give an educated guess for the number of lightning-related deaths. If the numbers don\u2019t fluctuate too much, the NOAA predicts that there should be around 54 lightning related deaths this year.<\/p>\n

The NOAA contributes the shrinking number of lightning related deaths to the urbanization of the world. Back in the 1940\u2019s, it was more common for people to work on farms and live in wide open spaces. These days, people can take cover indoors and wait out the storm. But while it has become easier to avoid lightning, it isn\u2019t always possible. But that is why the NOAA advises, \u201cWhen thunder roars, head indoors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only 28 lightning deaths were reported in 2012 — one the safest years in many decades. Urban growth is being cited as a factor.\u00a0—\u00a0Click to Tweet.   While 28 deaths may sound like a lot, this actually represents one of the safest years for lightning deaths in years. The number of lightning deaths have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-health-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t