Interesting article about Lightning

[Remix]

Here is a longitudinal study (1959-2000) of lightning deaths in Virginia that are broken out by location rather than activity.

I find it interesting that there is not much difference between deaths and injuries under trees compared to open spaces.

Death on the water is pretty rare too.

 

[TJsName]

Again the lack of a denominator makes it difficult to assess risk meaningfully, aside from saying that people inside a structure that can dissipate lightning are safer that those who are not.

 

[weatherman]

I was on the summit of Mt Princeton when snow flurries moved in, some people who had walked up the full 5000 vertical feet from the gate turned around maybe 200 vertical feet from the summit. But there was a monument just above to someone that didn't, a noted triathlete who couldn't outrun a lightning bolt.

Yeah, somehow I feel much less comfortable on a mountain in a thunderstorm out here than I did back in NE. You would think, given the exposure etc of mountains with >2000 vertical feet above treeline, that deaths from cold, getting lost, etc would be high on the list... but lightning is king. When bolts are going whack, whack, whack every 10 seconds or more frequently, it is not fun, especially when the nearest scrub is waaaaay down there. Also, winter peakbagging is much less common in the West for a variety of reasons, so climbs are concentrated in the July-Sept timeframe, which mostly overlaps thunderstorm season (June-Aug).