Be prepared: Florida's lightning season has arrived

Rene Stutzman | Sentinel Staff Writer Fisherman in Indian River County survived a bolt of lightning Monday, a few days after a 6-year-old girl in the Panhandle was struck and killed while standing beneath a tree. Florida's lightning season has arrived. And if it's an average year, nine Floridians will die from lightning strikes between mid-May and mid-October. Another 37 will be injured, according to Matt Bragaw, a lightning specialist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne. Meteorologists are predicting an average summer storm season. The past few days, though, have been especially violent. Thunderstorms have been very intense, pumped up by a pocket of cold air hanging over the area that has turned conventional afternoon storms into dangerous, lightning-rich ones, Bragaw said. More storms and rain are likely today... [read full story]