DAMAGING LIGHTNING AND OTHER SEVERE WEATHER

Statistics on the incidence of damaging lighting in Illinois during the 1014-47 period were gleaned largely from published and unpublished records of the U.S. Weather Bureau to perform a climatological investigation. On the average, damaging lightning was most frequent during J ~ l y and August. Normally, 14 days pcr ycar liad damaging lightning, and during the 1926-47 period lightning was responsible for more deaths than any other form of severe weather. On an areal basis, damaging lightning occurred most frequently in west-southmestern Illinois which is the same area that has been found t o have a high incidence of thunderstorms, tornadoes, hailstorms, and excessive rainstorms. Lightning caused deaths and injuries to a greater percentage of the rural population than of the urban population of the State. I n rural areas the structures most frequently damaged by lighnting were farm barns, whereas in urban areas residences mere the structures most frequently damaged. Other forms of severe weather occurred 011 less than 50 percent of the days of dnrnaging lightning.