A 19-year-old hiker died and multiple people were injured when lightning struck a small structure near the summit of Mount Timpanogos, Utah, on September 18, 2026.
A 31-year-old mother and her 2-year-old daughter died after being struck by lightning in Margate, Florida, on the afternoon of August 23, 2026, as thunderstorms affected northern Broward County. Another child was transported to the hospital after being struck by lightning at around the same time in Boynton Beach. The National Weather Service identified strong thunderstorms extending to Margate shortly before emergency crews were called.
A suspected lightning strike triggered a fire involving three natural gasoline storage tanks at the Explorer Pipeline facility in Glenpool, Oklahoma, at approximately 08:33 CDT (13:33 UTC) on August 17, 2026, prompting evacuations and shelter measures around the site. No injuries were reported. Officials said the fire was no longer actively burning by 20:30 CDT (01:30 UTC on August 18), and the response transitioned to cleanup and recovery on August 18.
A 32-year-old man was killed after being struck by lightning in Monroe Township, New Jersey, on Tuesday, July 29, 2026, as severe thunderstorms swept across the state, bringing dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning, torrential rainfall, flash flooding, and widespread disruptions. The fatality occurred as another round of severe weather affected New Jersey, following multiple storm systems earlier this month that caused widespread flooding, extensive power outages, and significant damage to transportation infrastructure.
A Red Flag Warning remains in effect across large parts of Interior Alaska until 22:00 AKDT (06:00 UTC June 22) on June 21, 2026. Scattered thunderstorms capable of producing lightning along with low humidity, hot temperatures, and gusty winds to create critical fire weather conditions in the region.
The World Meteorological Organization confirmed a new lightning flash record spanning 829 km (515 miles) across the Great Plains, United States, observed on October 22, 2017.
Lightning fatalities in the United States are on the rise this summer, NWS said. The death toll from such accidents this year rose to 29, which is the most since 2010. After floods, lightning is the second highest cause of weather-related deaths in the United States…
South Asian country of Bangladesh is experiencing a surge of lightning deaths this year. As of June 22, 2016, 261 people have died from lightning, placing the country on track to beat last year’s 265 deaths. A similar surge is reported in the neighboring…
At a rock outcropping in southern France, a jagged fracture runs along the granite. The surface in and around the crevice is discolored black, as if wet or covered in algae. But, according to a new paper coauthored by the University of Pennsylvania’s Reto
Lightning occurs more often over land than over the oceans and it seems to happen more often closer to the equator, according to satellite observations.The map below shows the average yearly counts of lightning flashes per square kilometer from 1995 to 2013. Areas with
