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contributor authorLópez, Raúl E.
contributor authorHolle, Ronald L.
date accessioned2017-06-09T15:29:28Z
date available2017-06-09T15:29:28Z
date copyright1996/03/01
date issued1996
identifier issn0894-8755
identifier otherams-4515.pdf
identifier urihttp://onlinelibrary.yabesh.ir/handle/yetl/4184123
description abstractLong-term fluctuations in the number of lightning deaths and injuries from 1959 to 1990 have been examined for the contiguous United States. After taking into account the population increase, there was an overall trend amounting to a 30% reduction in casualties during the period. It is possible that this trend resulted from improved forecasts and warnings, increased education efforts of the public, and socioeconomic changes. In addition, there was a 40% reduction in the number of deaths but not of nonfatal injuries. This additional reduction in deaths was probably due to improved medical attention given to lightning victims and a wider knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques among the public. Improved medical care would increase the chances of a person surviving a lightning strike but would not affect the total number of casualties. Superimposed on the overall downward trend there were fluctuations of one or two decades in duration. From 1959 until 1968 there was a sharp reduction in the number of casualties, but starting in 1969 and continuing until the present, there was an overall increase. These oscillations appear to be climatologically related. The patterns of these fluctuations were parallel to nationwide changes in thunder-day frequencies, cyclone frequencies, and surface temperature values, representing thunderstorm, synoptic, and continental scales.
publisherAmerican Meteorological Society
titleFluctuations of Lightning Casualties in the United States: 1959–1990
typeJournal Paper
journal volume9
journal issue3
journal titleJournal of Climate
identifier doi10.1175/1520-0442(1996)009<0608:FOLCIT>2.0.CO;2
journal fristpage608
journal lastpage615
treeJournal of Climate:;1996:;volume( 009 ):;issue: 003
contenttypeFulltext


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