Lightning takes a deadly toll

Summer is the peak season for one of the nation's deadliest weather phenomena — lightning. There have been 53 lightning deaths in Utah since 1953 — an average of about one per year. June 22-28 is Lightning Safety Awareness Week, and weather forecasters want to stress the best ways to stay safe under stormy skies.

Mark Eubank, KSL-TV's chief meteorologist, said lightning is the second most deadly weather-related killer in Utah, ranking only behind avalanches, which have claimed 66 people in the past 52 years. The number of reported lightning injuries since the 1950s exceeds 100.

Utah deaths from lightning 2002:       2 2001:       0 2000:       3 1999:       2 1998:       1 1997:       1

"Most of the deaths are young men," Eubank said. That's because they tend to be the construction workers or the outdoor types.

According to the National Weather Service, an average of 73 people are killed each year by lightning in the United States. That's more than the number of people killed by tornadoes or hurricanes yearly. Many more are struck by lightning but survive. However, they often report a variety of long-term, debilitating symptoms — memory loss, attention deficits, sleep disorders, numbness, dizziness, joint stiffness, irritability, fatigue, weakness, muscle spasms and depression.

Florida is probably the state most prone to lightning danger, but Utah has lightning storms that can "act like a big caldron."

Afternoon and evening are probably the most likely times for lightning storms and so hikers — especially in July and August in the High Uintas or even the Wasatch Mountains — are not only wise to watch the skies, but to be headed down the mountain by early afternoon.

Utah's two most recent lightning fatalities occurred atop Lone Peak, east of Draper, at about 7:30 p.m. July 25, 2002.

Here's some advice from the National Weather Service:

• Beware of developing thunderstorms. Towering cumulus clouds may be one of the first indications of a developing thunderstorm.