Southwest Arkansas Radio Radio Stations KMTB, KNAS and KBHC in Nashville, Arkansas
National Lightning Safety Awareness week was started in 2001, according to the National Lightning Safety Council. Since then, U.S. lightning fatalities have dropped from about 50 per year to about 30. This reduction in fatalities is largely due to greater awareness of the lightning danger, and people seeking safety when thunderstorms threaten.
According to the National Weather Service, about 25 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes occur in the United States each year. Most lightning victims are not struck during the worst of a thunderstorm but rather before or after the storm reaches its greatest intensity. This is because many people are unaware that lightning can strike as far as 25 miles away from its parent thunderstorm.
