Earthquakes and Cyclones were considered as the biggest threats of all to human life and property since centuries. Although Earthquakes come pretty unannounced, Cyclones on the other hand provide sufficient notice.
Now however, a third dimension is being added to the list of threats in the form of ‘lightning and thunderstorms.
Though anticipating a thunderstorm is still possible, but pin-pointing the precise location and time is not yet possible with the current technologies.
The severity of a lightning strike is maximum as the losses are beyond recovery and it kills in seconds. When lightning strikes, it has the potential to kill people then and there.
Tropics are more prone to lightning and thus India, is a perfect ground for such activity. Both Monsoon and Pre-Monsoon seasons are prone to intense thunder storm activity.
Each lightning strike discharges millions of volts and generates enormous amount of heat.
‘Cloud to Ground’ type of lightning is the most dangerous. ‘Cloud to Cloud’ lightning on the other hand can harm aircrafts.
The recent episode of thunderstorm in Rajasthan, Gujarat and West Madhya Pradesh claimed 47 lives in total on April 16.
This is not the first-time lightning has claimed lives- the same happened last year as well. In 2018, 124 people died in Rajasthan on May 2. On May 13, the same year another thunderstorm claimed lives in Rajasthan and Delhi.
More than 10,000 thunderstorms take place simultaneously around the globe with hundreds of lightning strikes and flashes of lightning happening in each thunderstorm that takes place.
With this, the potential of damage caused magnifies manifold.
Image Credits – AcuRite
Any information taken from here should be credited to Skymet Weather