NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS SR-193, Section 11

Section 11 Table of Contents:

11. Location

11. LOCATION

The digital record of Storm Data divides the locations of lightning casualties into eight groups (Table 34), plus two unknown categories. Figure 39 shows the US results in graphical form. Comments on each category follow.

Not reported; various other and unknown locations
There are many unknown or unreported locations in the Storm Data record (40.4%) according to Table 34. Regional percentages of unknown casualties range from 27.5% in the Northern Rockies to 59.5% on the west coast. This category combines the two location categories in Storm Data of "not reported" and "at various other and unknown locations".

Open fields, ballparks, playgrounds, etc.
This is the next largest category in every region and for the US (Table 34). The same Storm Data categories were used by Ferrett and Ojala (1992) for Michigan to find that ball parks and playgrounds were the most frequent locations of lightning victims from 1959 to 1987.

Under trees
The third largest group in the US, and in most regions, involves people located under trees. Benjamin Franklin also commented on the danger of being under trees over 200 years ago. Ferrett and Ojala (1992) found that trees were the third most frequent location for lightning fatalities in Michigan. This is a very dangerous place to take shelter when lightning is nearby. Paxton and Morales (1997) found that 60% of the 1996 Florida lightning casualties were under trees or makeshift shelters.

Water related, fishing, boating, swimming, etc.
In the US and most of the regions, the next highest percentage is related to the proximity of the victim to bodies of water.

Golfing; golfing under trees
It is sometimes stated that golfers are the most frequent victims of lightning. It is apparent from this analysis that golfing is not especially high on the list in most regions.

Driving tractors, farm equipment, heavy road equipment, etc.
While this category is small in Storm Data since 1959, agricultural activities in rural areas were one of the most common locations for lightning victims early in the century and is the subject of a study in progress by the authors.

Telephone-related
Telephones are an infrequent but persistent source of lightning casualties in all regions. The issue of telephones and lightning victims was examined in Australia by Andrews et al. (1992).

Radios, transmitters, antennas, etc.
These types of casualties occur at a low rate in all regions since antennas may be the highest objects in the immediate area.

Figure 39: Locations of US lightning casualties from 1959 to 1994 including unknown cases.

The location categories in the digital Storm Data dataset are of limited use; Ferrett and Ojala (1992) are the only other researchers to use these categories. But much can be learned about the patterns and time trends in locations of lightning victims by reviewing and categorizing the information in the verbal narratives of Storm Data. This large task has not been performed for the US from 1959 to 1994.

Findings from research with smaller databases are difficult to intercompare since each study has its own system. The following are major features of some of this research:

• North Carolina medical examiner data were used to develop two different systems of locations. Lightning victims were most often at their home or in the home's surroundings from 1972 to 1984 (Duclos and Sanderson (1990). In contrast, another study found that fatalities were most often in a farm, field, or garden from 1972 to 1988 (Langley et al., 1991).
• Florida locations were summarized by Duclos et al. (1990) and Holle et al. (1992). As expected, a significant number of lightning victims were in the vicinity of water in some form.
• Lightning casualties during recreation have increased since 1950 in Colorado, while agricultural casualties have decreased (López et al., 1995).
• Outside the US, somewhat similar results were found in Singapore (Pakiam et al., 1981) and Australia (Coates et al., 1993).

It is important to go beyond the Storm Data digital record for another reason. Not only is location important, but the activity at the time of the lightning casualty can tell more about the lightning victim's situation. Many or most of the papers mentioned above also include or link the victim's activity to the location.