Did You Know Facts

  • Lightning strikes the Earth 6000 times a minute.
  • Since your last breath, lightning struck the earth some 100 times.
  • 44,000 lightning storms occur every day throughout the world.
  • A lightning strike only occurs for a very short period of time (2-300 microseconds).
  • An area of Java in Indonesia has 322 days of electrical storms in one year.
  • Insurance companies in the USA say that $500,000,000 worth of damage per year is caused by lightning.
  • In the Sydney basin of NSW alone, a relatively mild lightning area to world standards, there are around 30-40 thunderdays per year.
  • The average lightning strike in Sydney has a peak current of 30 thousand amps.
  • At anytime, there are approximately 2000 thunderstorms in progress around the planet
  • A direct strike can generate as much as 200,000 amps, and exceed 100,000 volts
  • The temperature inside a lightning bolt can be up to 10 times the temperature on the surface of the Sun.
  • Sensitive electronic components start to break down at only around 2.5 times its nominal voltage (600V).
  • A lightning strike from 5km away, can be induced into power & telephone lines and still cause considerable damage to sensitive equipment, ie: PABX, computers, security systems, video equipment, office automation, T.V.s etc etc.
  • Over a period of 6 weeks, during the summer of 95-96, Centrepoint Tower was struck 28 times. A System 3000 (Terracon employ this System) had been installed for direct strike protection prior to the summer. No damage had been incurred on any of the sensitive telecommunications equipment after the strikes.
  • Lightning can and does strike more than once in the same spot.