High incidence in summer! Two lightning accidents in one week, please keep this lightning protection manual

Thunderstorms are frequent in summer, and two lightning accidents have occurred in the past week. How dangerous is it to be struck by lightning? Please keep this lightning protection manual>>

Compiled by New Media Editor Lv Bingxin

On August 27, the Emergency Management Bureau of Nanling County, Anhui Province reported that four people were struck by lightning at Nanling Square in Jishan Town, Nanling County, killing two people and injuring two others. It is understood that at 17:20 that afternoon, the Nanling County Meteorological Observatory issued a yellow warning signal for lightning. Many local netizens posted that "the thunder was extremely loud."

On August 24, a newlywed couple in Lijiang, Yunnan were struck by lightning while taking wedding photos at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and the groom unfortunately died.

Thunderstorms have been frequent recently, and two lightning accidents were reported in a short week, which is heartbreaking. How powerful is a lightning strike, and how does it cause casualties? When are thunderstorms most likely to occur, and where are they most likely to be struck by lightning? In addition to paying attention to lightning warning information at all times, how can you protect yourself during thunderstorms? Let's take a look.

How dangerous is it to be struck by lightning?

An average of 460 people die each year

An article published in 2012 titled "Characteristics of Casualties and Vulnerability Assessment Zoning Caused by Lightning Strike in my country" pointed out that based on data analysis from 1997 to 2010, lightning strikes caused an average of 460 deaths and 425 injuries in my country each year.

The main manifestation of lightning strikes is lightning. When lightning strikes directly, the current of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of amperes directly hits the human body, which can cause damage to body tissues or even death in the instant the current passes through. Survivors of lightning injuries often have symptoms such as physical weakness, dizziness, and memory loss.

Clinically, lightning injuries can be divided into three types: electric shock, electric thermal burns and lightning burns.

Electric shock: Electric current passing through the human body can cause damage and dysfunction to body tissues and organs.

Electrical burns: The resistance of various tissues and organs in the human body is different, so the severity of burns suffered is also different.

Lightning burns: When a person is struck by lightning, the blood vessels in the skin constrict and the skin burns in a reticular pattern.

After a lightning injury occurs, the rescuer should make an assessment of the victim's condition while ensuring the safety of the environment. If the lightning strike causes cardiac arrest or respiratory arrest, call the emergency number "120" immediately and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the spot until the patient wakes up or professional rescue personnel arrive and send the patient to the hospital for further treatment.

Summer thunderstorms are more frequent

The peak time is from 15:00 to 17:00 in the afternoon

my country is a vast country, and thunderstorms occur at different times in different places. On average, there are obvious seasonal differences in the frequency of thunderstorms, with the highest incidence in summer and very few in winter.

Judging from the monthly distribution of thunderstorm days, thunderstorms in my country mainly occur from April to September, with the highest peak in July at 8.5 days. Basically, a thunderstorm may occur one day every four days. From November to February of the following year, there are almost no thunderstorms in the country, with an average number of days of less than 0.5 days.

Shi Yan, a meteorological analyst at China Weather Network, said that the peak of thunderstorms in my country is mainly from June to August, which is closely related to convective weather. At this time, after the outbreak of the southern summer monsoon, the warm and humid air flow is stronger and convective weather is more likely to occur; in the north, affected by the frequent activities of the northeastern cold vortex, the convective activities in North China and Northeast China increase, and the number of thunderstorm days increases. After September, the rainy season in Northeast my country and North China ends, and the number of thunderstorm days decreases significantly; in the south, with the retreat of the southwest monsoon, the warm and humid air flow decays, the temperature drops, and the probability of thunderstorms also decreases rapidly.

Thunderstorms in my country usually occur in the afternoon and evening, with the highest peak between 15:00 and 17:00. According to statistics from the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, during the 10 years from 1997 to 2006, the daily variation of lightning accidents showed a typical single peak, starting to rise rapidly at 13:00, reaching a high value between 15:00 and 17:00, and peaking at 16:00, accounting for 17.1%.

Thunderstorms are more likely to occur in the south than in the north

More mountains than plains

In meteorology, a thunderstorm day is counted as a day when thunder is heard at an observation station. China Weather Network studied the big data of thunderstorm days in various parts of my country from 1981 to 2013 and found that thunderstorms are more likely to occur in southern China than in northern my country, and there are more thunderstorm days in mountainous areas than in plains.

It can be seen from the national thunderstorm map released by China Weather Network that the areas with the highest frequency of thunderstorms in my country are southern Yunnan, Hainan, most of Guangdong, southeastern Guangxi and parts of central Tibet, with an average annual number of thunderstorm days of more than 70 days, and locally more than 100 days; the average annual number of thunderstorm days in most of Yunnan, western and northern Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian and southern Zhejiang is between 50-70 days.

The average number of thunderstorm days per year is between 30 and 50 in most parts of Zhejiang, central and southern Anhui, Hunan, Chongqing, Guizhou, western and southern Sichuan, Shanxi, Beijing, northern Hebei, Jilin, eastern Qinghai, and western Xinjiang. Most parts of Northwest China, Inner Mongolia, and the Huanghuai Plain are areas with low thunderstorm frequency, with an average of less than 30 days per year.

Check this lightning protection manual

If you hear thunder, take shelter immediately.

Wei Ke, an associate researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published an article in China Science Daily reminding that if you can hear thunder, then the lightning is probably within 10 kilometers. Therefore, as long as you hear thunder, the thunderclouds are probably within 1 to 10 kilometers above your head, and you need to hide quickly because the lightning is very close.

(Source: Elderly Health News, China Weather Network, China Science News, CCTV.com, etc.)

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