Lightning season is coming
February is the dead of winter. The weather tends to be calmer, if dreary grey and snowy, in a lot of the U.S. But there is one surety regarding the coming spring and summer months: peak thunderstorm season is just around the corner!
With summer comes lightning.
Early to mid summer is the time of peak storm activity. Why? Simply because it’s hot! Atmospheric heating is the main cause of severe thunderstorms, especially over the midwest and southeastern U.S.
In the United States, five of the top ten lightning days in 2023 occurred in mid June. June 14 ranked first with over 3.5 million total strikes just that day alone.* That’s a whole lot of lightning. There is a good chance that at least some of those strikes will cause catastrophic property damage.
Know your risks for lightning strikes.
We can guess that you don’t want to be the one with the aforementioned lightning damage. So how to prepare? First, be aware of your risks. Is your business or property strike-prone? Here are three main ways to know whether you are at risk:
• You live in Florida or Texas. Last year Florida ranked first for lightning density per square kilometer (112.6 strikes/sq km)*. Texas ranked first for lightning count (42,388,860 total strikes)*. By the way, these two states flipflop between top spots in these categories year to year. Being a Texas-based company we know exactly how crazy storms get here. We also do a lot of business all over the state of Florida, from the Panhandle to the Miami coast, so we’re very aware of the challenges for Floridians as well. We get it!
• Your property includes tall objects. Large trees, poles, towers, and rooflines are all lightning attractors simply due to height. This is because their elevated position increases the likelihood of producing connecting cloud to ground sparks and, consequently, being struck by lightning.**
• You enjoy spending time in or around water. Water-related activities including boating, fishing and swimming, contributed to 35% of all leisure-related lightning deaths. The odds of a boat being struck by lightning in any year are 1 per 1,000, increasing to 3.3 per 1,000 in particularly lightning prone locations such as Florida***. And yes, our lightning blocker device can be installed on boats as well as on land! See our Recreational Brochure to learn more.
There are more factors that contribute to the likelihood of lightning strikes, of course. But the above “big three,” location, height, and proximity to water, contribute to the vast majority of lightning-related incidents in the U.S. each year.
Prepare now to be safe by storm season 2024.
Given we still have a few months until the heart of lightning season, NOW is the time to prep and plan. Whatever your needs, Percunos has a custom lightning protection solution for you. Our patented CMCE device protects homes, boats, commercial structures and businesses of all kinds worldwide. With over 10,000 installations during the past 15 years, there has never been a recorded strike on a property protected with our lightning blocker technology.
We’re always available to discuss solutions at info@percunos.com, 832-838-4485 or toll-free 888-491-7024. We’d love to hear from you!
*source: Vaisala 2023 XWeather Lightning Report **source: NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory data. ***source: National Lightning Safety Council