NOAA’s National Weather Service Lightning Safety Awareness Week

June 18 – 24, 2006

The National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of NOAA, is again taking a lead role and sponsoring our annual National Lightning Safety Awareness Week. This year’s awareness campaign is being conducted during the week of June 18-24, 2006. During this week, we ask local media to share lightning information and safety tips with residents of the North Country. Vermont’s Governor, James Douglas, has proclaimed this as an important week across Vermont.

Spring and summer are the peak seasons for one of our deadliest weather phenomena – thunderstorms. Thunderstorms produce damaging winds, large hail, heavy rain and deadly lightning. Helping to educate residents and visitors of Vermont and New York on the dangers of lightning, and the life saving safety tips is the goal of this week. This lightning awareness campaign is designed to help lower the number of lightning deaths and injuries. It will NOT lower the number of lightning strikes.

People struck by lightning suffer from a variety of short-term and long-term debilitating symptoms. Some of these include; memory loss, attention deficits, sleep disorders, numbness and dizziness, fatigue and depression to name a few. Lightning continues to be a serious danger across the nation, and our area is no different.

We hope that you will learn more about lightning risks and how to protect yourself from lightning by visiting the links below. As a start, get an overview of Lightning Safety at this link. The remaining links below are provided to you as informational resources. Do you know what the specific risks of lightning are? Do you understand the 30/30 rule and the importance of not playing outdoor athletics during these critical time periods? If you can hear the thunder, you are at risk of a lightning strike. It does not have to be raining where you are to be at risk of a lightning bolt.

The best advice is to plan ahead. Listen to the weather forecast and NOAA’s All Hazards Weather Radio before you partake in outdoor activities. Whether your day involves being in or on the water, hiking in the mountains, outdoor sporting events or simply the backyard BBQ, always plan ahead. Know the risks of lightning, and the appropriate safety action.

The links below are a good starting place for lightning safety. Remember, it all starts with planning. It is ultimately up to you to have a safety plan in place. The NWS and Emergency Management ask that you take a few moments to become familiar with the risks of lightning, as well as the appropriate safety tips. That way you will reduce your chances of becoming a statistic of deadly lightning.

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Informational Sources

NOAA and FEMA Lightning Safety:

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/ltg/

http://www.fema.gov/kids/sabrina.htm

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=26841

Vermont and northern New York Weather and Climatology

http://www.weather.gov/btv

http://www.weather.gov/aly

http://www.uvm.edu/~ldupigny/sc/

Emergency Management

http://www.dps.state.vt.us/vem/

http://www.semo.state.ny.us/

Miscellaneous Lightning Safety

http://www.lightningsafety.com/

We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable summer, while always being cognizant of the weather hazards presented by each season. Presenting lightning safety tips to your viewing and listening audiences across the north country of Vermont and New York is a great public service. In addition, we will be broadcasting lightning safety tips on our NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio during that week.

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