WEST MICHIGAN — Severe Weather Awareness Weeks are scheduled across the county as an opportunity to raise awareness of severe weather hazards. It's a time to prepare and learn how to stay safe in severe storms. They are often scheduled ahead of the typical severe weather season for each state. In Michigan, Severe Weather Awareness Week is March 17 through March 23.
The best way to stay safe during severe weather in West Michigan is to be both prepared and informed. The FOX 17 Weather Team will be explaining severe weather conditions and severe weather safety tips all week long. Click here for our daily coverage on Severe Weather Awareness Week.
Today's Question: How can I stay safe when lightning strikes?
We all know the phrase ... when thunder roars, head indoors! If you are outside when you hear thunder or see lightning, you should move away from wooded areas and avoid high ground. Staying under a tree is not a safe spot.
If you are out on the boat, or near a river or lake, you should immediately get off of the water and find shelter indoors.
Lightning can strike more than 20 miles from the parent storm cell, so you should allow at least 30 minutes for the thunderstorm to pass.
For additional safety tips and lightning facts from the National Weather Service, click here.
The following statement was made by the National Weather Service in their lightning science lesson:
Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere or between the atmosphere and the ground. In the initial stages of development, air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges in the cloud and between the cloud and the ground; however, when the differences in charges becomes too great, this insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a rapid discharge of electricity that we know as lightning. There's so much to learn about lightning.
According to the National Weather Service, lightning kills about 20 people each year in the United States and hundreds more are injured.
Lightning can form in various ways. Below is an image depicting various forms of lightning, including cloud to cloud, ground to cloud, cloud to ground, cloud to sky, and intracloud.
For the latest details on the weather in West Michigan, head to the FOX 17 Weather page.
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