The Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness is promoting the week of June 21-27 as Lightning Awareness Safety Week -- a reminder to take thunderstorms seriously.
Since the inception of Lighting Safety Week in 2001, lightning fatalities in the U.S. have dropped from about 50 per year to an average of 30 or fewer per year -- a reduction the National Weather Service attributes directly to this campaign.
As of mid-June 2020, three people in the United States have died after being struck by lightning. Last year, 20 people in 13 states were killed by lightning, including two women from the Cincinnati area who tried to seek shelter under a tree during a storm.
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