In an average storm season, you can expect 7-10 strokes to hit within 1500 feet of your business, school, and home. Some of these hits might be considerably closer than 1,500 feet to the center of the target area. This is a critical consideration when considering safety and liability issues for facilities that cover an extended area. Schools, outdoor recreation areas, parks, hotels, and most industrial facilities all extend across an area of several thousand square feet or more. This makes them very large targets for the typical pattern of lightning strikes produced over the course of a storm season.

AS YOU CAN SEE IN THIS DIAGRAM, A FACILITY OF THIS SIZE COULD RECEIVE 7 TO 10 DIRECT LIGHTNING HITS WITHIN ITS PHYSICAL PLANT EACH AND EVERY YEAR, ON AVERAGE. THE QUESTION IS NOT WHETHER A LIGHTNING HIT IS COMING, BUT HOW MANY ARE LIKELY EACH STORM SEASON, AND WHETHER OR NOT THEY WILL HAPPEN WHEN PEOPLE ARE EXPOSED TO A DIRECT HIT.