Dear Tom,
I have heard that lightning strikes more men than women. How can lightning know the difference between the sexes?
William Marchant
Dear William,
Lightning does strike men much more frequently than women, but lightning doesn’t “know” the sex of its victims.
What is important are lifestyle and behavioral differences between men and women. Men tend to engage in activities that put them at greater risk to lightning strikes. The lightning-strike statistics also suggest men do not respect the threat of lightning to the extent that women do.
Meteorologist Rusty Kapela at the Milwaukee National Weather Service office provides these statistics: Of 41 U.S. lightning deaths in 2007 through September, 36 were men and only five were women.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
