Thunderstorm season definitely here
It looks like June is living up to its reputation for being the peak thunderstorm month across the Inland Northwest. Storms caused power outages across parts of Eastern Washington last Wednesday, and earlier storms resulted in flash flooding across Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Some of the heaviest rains occurred just southeast of Northport, Wash., where 1.41 inches fell in less than an hour. The 24-hour total in Inchelium, Wash., from this past Monday to Tuesday was 2.90 inches.
Many of the heavy rain-making storms were compact, dropping lots of water on one part of town, while only sprinkling another. Though the Spokane airport has received nearly half an inch of rain in the last week, it is still about three-quarters of an inch below normal for the year. Coeur d’Alene is holding to near normal values, though some parts of the city saw more than an inch of rain from localized downpours.
While heavy rains cause most folks to head indoors, many of us (myself included) have a hard time “taking shelter” from an electrified storm that’s not dropping rain on us. Coincidentally, June 21-27 is Lightning Safety Awareness Week, so here is an early scoop on lightning safety:
So far this year, 14 people in the U.S. have been killed by lightning. On average, the annual death toll is 62. There are many myths surrounding lightning – the most common being that lightning never strikes the same place twice. The truth is that lightning can strike the same place more than once, and some places like the Empire State Building are struck nearly 25 times a year.
Another popular myth is that the rubber tires on your car protect you from lightning by insulating you from the ground. While you are relatively safe in your enclosed vehicle, it is the metal roof and sides that protect you by providing a path for the current to the ground. Rubber tires or not, bicycles, convertibles, motorcycles and farm and construction vehicles with open cockpits provide no lightning protection at all. If you do find yourself outdoors during a storm and someone has been struck by lightning, know that you will not get electrocuted from giving aid to the victim. The human body does not store electricity, so you can safely administer CPR or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
A general rule of thumb when is comes to lightning: If you are close enough to hear the thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.