The state of Florida has a lengthy history of being named the nation’s lightning capital.
Surprisingly, though, after Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, Florida ranks fourth when it comes to lightning strikes.
More people die from lightning strikes in Florida than any other state because of its densely populated areas, year-round access to outdoor recreation, and proximity to water.
When does lightning strike?
The combination of high temperatures, high humidity, and two coastal sea breezes makes Florida an ideal environment for lightning strikes.
The first word in a lightning storm is “lift.” The term “lift” refers to the process of bringing air from above our homes and allowing it to cool, condense into clouds, and eventually rain. Lift occurs when air is heated by the sun and begins to rise, or when a cold front causes air to rise. The interplay between west coast and east coast sea breezes, however, may be the primary cause of the abundance of lightning.
Palm Beach Gardens
It appears that a boy was killed in Pembroke Pines after being struck by lightning while riding his bike.
The county of Broward
Lightning struck a college runner, killing him, and a 911 call from Davie said, “It looked so scary.”
The process of lift causes ice to form because water freezes as it ascends into the cooler air above. If the ice balls get large enough to rain down, hail may result.
But when ice forms and moves through the clouds, the environment for lightning is set up by the separation of positive and negative charges.
Temperate zones can have lightning with temperatures as high as 50,000°F. Possible configurations include cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-air.
However, for reasons that should be readily apparent, “cloud-to-ground” lightning is the most lethal. More than one million lightning strikes and three thousand cloud-to-ground strikes occur year in Florida.
Floridians killed by lightning
Every year, seven people in Florida lose their lives as a result of lightning strikes. One person died in Tallahassee, one in Davie, and one in St. Petersburg in 2024 as a result of lightning in the United States during the summer.
Witness accounts imply that lightning may have been the official cause of death in Wednesday’s 16-year-old Pembroke Pines incident, but we still don’t know for sure. Eleventh of 2024 and fourth for Florida, that would be.
