A Bolt From the Blue : Statistically, at Least, Southland Is One of Safest Areas From Lightning

Guy Arnone, the Canyon Country man who was expected to recover fully after being struck by lightning this week, might take some comfort in the story of Roy C. Sullivan.

Sullivan is listed in the Guinness Book of Records for having been hit by lightning seven times between 1942 and 1977--thought to be the most strikes endured by anybody. In one instance, the Virginia park ranger lost a toenail. Another time, his hair caught fire. But Sullivan survived all seven incidents.

In fact, doctors say, 80% of lightning victims survive.

But neither statistics nor Arnone’s optimistic prognosis--his doctors at Northridge Hospital Medical Center say he should be home this weekend--change the fact of his bad luck. He was hit by lightning in one of the nation’s safest spots when it comes to thunderstorms.

While Floridians and Midwesterners must seek shelter from as many as 100 such storms each year, Los Angeles averages only four. And of the 87 Americans who die from lightning in an average year, rarely are more than a couple Californians, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

“You don’t have the weather for it,” said Martin Uman, chairman of the electrical and computer engineering department at the University of Florida. “Hot, wet air makes thunderstorms. Your air is too dry.”

A thunderstorm occurs when warm, moist air collides with cold air above. Thunderclouds form in great pillars that can reach 50,000 to 60,000 feet high.

Within these unstable clouds, the normal mixture of positive and negative electrical charges separate. If a layer of like charges form along the base of the cloud, the scene is set for a thunderstorm.

To the human eye, lightning strokes--as meteorologists call them--appear to travel downward. In fact, the process is more complicated.

As a thundercloud passes overhead, its electrical charge is attracted by opposite charges on the ground. Electrical particles zig-zag downward from the cloud until, near ground, they are met by rising opposite charges. With this circuit completed, the lightning stroke flashes brilliantly and thunder resounds.

At least, that is how scientists think it works.

“It’s not really too well understood, to tell you the truth,” said Rob Krohn, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s regional office in Oxnard. “And it’s not the easiest thing to predict.”

Florida is the undisputed lightning rod of the nation. With warm ocean water and humid air, the central part of the state averages 100 thunderstorms per year.

Los Angeles, with cool Pacific currents and low humidity, gets most of its thunderstorms in outlying areas--the foothills where winds push warm air up mountain faces, or the desert where moist subtropical air flows north from Mexico.

Still, experts warn that it takes only one bolt of lightning to cause injury or death, and Southern Californians unaccustomed to electrical storms should know the necessary precautions.

For one, “It’s not a good idea to hang around outside and watch it,” Krohn said.

Large buildings and cars offer the best shelter. Like Arnone, most people struck by lightning are standing in parking lots, fields or other open areas. Taking shelter under trees can be dangerous because lightning usually strikes the highest available point.

If caught outside, crouch low and stay on the balls of your feet, Uman said. He added that talking on the telephone can be fatal. Lightning can strike the phone line and travel all the way through the handset.

“It will come out in your ear, break the eardrum and fry your brain,” the Florida professor said. “That hurts.”

As in the case of Arnone, who could be released as early as today, conventional lightning strikes are often less severe.

And Sullivan, who survived more lightning strikes than anyone--he committed suicide at the age of 71.