Overview
On average, lightning causes as many deaths annually as tornadoes and hurricanes combined. Except for flash floods, lightning kills more people in the United States than any other meteorological phenomenon.
National Weather Service officials note that if you can hear the sound of thunder, you are within range of a lightning strike. Lightning can travel horizontally up to 10 miles in any direction, which means that a thunderstorm need not be directly overhead, nor does it need to be raining to produce lightning in an area.