- Tornadoes cause an average of 70 fatalities and 1,500 injuries in the U.S. each year.
- Tornadoes may appear nearly transparent until dust and debris are picked up or a cloud forms within the funnel. The average tornado moves from southwest to northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction.
- Straight-line winds are responsible for most thunderstorm wind damage.
- Lightning occurs in all thunderstorms; each year lightning strikes the United States 25 million times.
- Most lightning fatalities and injuries occur when people are caught outdoors in the summer months during the afternoon and evening.
- The air near a lightning strike is heated to 50,000°F--hotter than the surface of the sun!
- Six inches of fast-moving water can knock you off your feet; a depth of two feet will cause most vehicles to float.
- Most flash flood fatalities occur at night and most victims are people who become trapped in automobiles.
- Hail causes more than $1 billion in damage to property and crops each year.
- Large hail stones fall at speeds faster than 100 mph.
Finally, according the the US Department of Transportation, on average, there are over 6,301,000 vehicle crashes each year.
- 24% of these crashes—approximately 1,511,000—are weather-related. Weather-related crashes are defined as those crashes that occur in adverse weather (i.e., rain, sleet, snow, and/or fog) or on slick pavement (i.e., wet pavement, snowy/slushy pavement, or icy pavement).
- On average, 7,130 people are killed and over 629,000 people
are injured in weather-related crashes each year.
(Source: Fourteen-year averages from 1995 to 2008 analyzed by Noblis, based on NHTSA data).
- 75% on wet pavement
- 47% and forty-seven during rainfall
- 15 % of crashes happen during snow or sleet
- 13% occur on icy pavement
- 11% of weather-related crashes take place on snowy or slushy pavement
- 3% happen in the presence of fog
(Source: Fourteen-year averages from 1995 to 2008 analyzed by Noblis, based on NHTSA data).
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