Lightning:

According to the National Public Health Newsletter of January 1922, the chances of being hit by lightning is 1:28,500.

The average number of deaths from lightning is more than 100 a year. From 1940 – 1991, lightning killed 8,316 people in the U.S.


Based on data from 1959 –1990, from the National Climatic Data Center, Florida holds the record for the most people killed by lightning. There were over 300 deaths. North Carolina comes in second with 160 deaths and Texas third with around 145 deaths.

To The Extreme:

The highest temperature ever recorded in the United States was 134 degrees F at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, California.

Currently the driest state is Nevada with an annual rainfall of only nine inches.

The greatest annual rainfall in the United States was 184.56 inches at Wynooches, Oxbow, Washington in 1931.

A total of 1,224.5 inches of snow fell over a 12-month period from February 1971 to February 1972 at Paradise, Mt. Ranier, in Washington State. Maybe it should be called Mt. Showier!


The difference between the hottest and coldest air temperatures ever recorded on the surface of the earth is 264 degrees.

The longest period without measurable rainfall in the United States was 767 days at Bagdad, California.


Other Fun Facts:

It takes about one million cloud droplets to provide enough water for one raindrop.

When you walk across the carpet on a dry winter day, you may create a static electrical discharge. If the spark is the length of your thumb, the charges generated are around 85,000 volts.

Each year American vegetation spews forth some 1,000,000 tons of pollen into the air we breathe.