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We hear this fairly often, and often assume we put more emphasis on it, or notice it more...because of the nature of our business. Fortunately, evidence exists to assure us we aren't completely addled.
- During the 5 year period 1992-1996, we paid out $1.7 billion in lightning-related claims. This was 8.7% of total claims and 3.8% of dollar losses. –St. Paul Ins. Co.
- Each year we have about 307,000 claims from lightning, amounting to loss reimbursements of some $332 million. –State Farm Insurance Co.
- Five percent of all insurance claims are lightning-related, amounting to over $1 billion per year. –Insurance Information Institute, NY, Press Release 1989
- On annual average, we pay out about 3-4% of our claims as a result of lightning. -Factory Mutual Companies
- Lightning accounted for 101,000 laptop and desktop computer losses amounting to $125,417,000 in damage in 1997. -Computer Security News
- Costs of lightning-induced failures from garage-door openers, PC modem cards, commercial telephone switches and low voltage security systems? No one knows. –National Lightning Safety Institute research, 2001
Lightning Information below:
 | This map is a static (not moving) representation of annual lightning frequency world-wide. Selecting this image will open a new window. It has been optimized for download time, but it is still somewhat large. Please be patient. Units: flashes/square kilometer/yr. Image credit: National Space Science and Technology Center's (NSSTC's) lightning team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center |
 | Fantastic! This is an MPEG video (stored on this server) that displays, quite vividly, annual activity in a "movie" form. It is a large file (1.7 megabytes). Animation Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio |
 | Vaisala Lightning Explorer Vaisala Lightning Explorer displays recent lightning activity across the entire continental U.S. The lightning data displayed is 30 minutes delayed. Fresh data is available every 30 minutes |
 | Real-time "Space Weather" forecasts. No...it isn't lightning...but sunspot activity has an effect on utility performance related to transient activity. |
