Question

What are the dangers associated with thunderstorms?

Answer 1

There are many dangers associated with thunderstorms.

Explanation:

The one thing that all thunderstorms have in common is that they come with lightening. Other dangers vary from storm to storm such as heavy rain, strong winds, and hail.

Flash flooding: Flash flooding is responsible, by far, for more fatalities than any other attribute of a thunderstorm. The number of fatalities associated with thunderstorm related flash flooding hovers around 140 annually (in the U.S.). This normally occurs when someone is in a low-lying area (it only takes 2 inches of water moving at 5 miles an hour to sweep even the most intrepid whitewater adventurer off their feet [drowning them], if you don't know how deep water is stay out)

Lightening: Where there's thunder there's lightening. If you are close enough hear thunder you are close enough to be struck by lightening; it is an old wives-tail that lightening only strikes the tallest object in the area, it really all depends on how well the object can conduct electricity, the better the object conducts the more likely it is to be struck and humans make great conductors (we're essentially big bags of salt water). Luckily most people (about 90%) that are struck by lightening live to tell the tale, only about 50 people die in the United States each year as a result of lightening strikes (about 5,000 people are struck annually).

Winds: Thunderstorms are frequently accompanied by high winds, these winds can down trees and power lines, can lift and throw bounce houses, topple porta-potties, and cause vehicular accidents (especially with eighteen wheelers). The high winds associated with thunderstorms result in about 30 fatalities in the U.S. annually.

Hail: Hail is generally not considered a major killer (in a bad year it may result in 5 deaths in North America) but can damage homes, cars, or just about anything else left outside. In 2014 the United States alone incurred about $2.4 billion U.S. dollars worth of damage.

I realize this is a lot of info but hope this helps!