Summertime Myths: Lightning Storms

July 30, 2007 — -- This story originally aired on July 15, 2005

Summertime rituals are in full swing -- the smell of barbecue is in the air, bodies are tan, and people are geared up for days of worryfree fun. But for some, myths surrounding summertimes rituals, from concerns about shark attacks to swimming after a meal, taint the season.

Lightning in particular conjures up an entire catalogue of myths.

A sampling include:

Myth: Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
Fact: It does, especially if it's a tall, isolated object such asthe Empire State building, which is struck an estimated 25 times ayear.
Myth: If it's not raining, you're safe from lightning.
Fact: Lightning can strike more than three miles from athunderstorm.

"Lightning's got its own agenda and we don't have its behavior totallyfigured out yet," said Richard Kithil, founder of the National LightningSafety Institute.

"I want to emphasize that no place outside is safe," he said. "We shouldavoid proximity to water. We should avoid proximity to metal objects. Weshould avoid proximity to electrical machinery or equipment," he said.

That warning may have you worrying about a metal object you likely spend quite a bit of time in -- you car.

Wendy Allen, an anchorwoman for Central Florida News, was in her car whenit was struck by lightning. "I just saw bright light," she recalled. "Intense lightfilled up my car for just a split second. But it was a deafening bang.And I knew."

The antenna was destroyed, and a tiny scorchmark on the trunk shows wherethe lightning exited after it fried the car's electrical system. Therewere burn marks on Allen's T-shirt where her seatbelt had been; and, ina story she taped afterward, she was still recovering from a burn onher lip.

"I was drinking bottled water while I was driving, so they think that Imight have had a little bead of water on my lip and that the electricityarced up from the seatbelt up to my lip and it charred my lip," she explained.