25,000,000 lightning flashes strike the earth each year; each strike is over 50,000º F.

• Records kept from 1940 to 1991 indicate that lightning was the leading weather related cause of death in the U.S. Floods were the second, followed by tornadoes. Hurricanes resulted in the least number of fatalities.
  
  
• 85% of lightning strike victims are children and men between the ages of 10 - 35. 25% of victims die and 70% of the survivors suffer long-term effects. One of the symptoms that 29% of strike victims suffer is agoraphobia, a fear of open spaces.
  
  
• Lightning can strike up to 10 miles from a storm.
  
  
• The highest incidents of lightning strikes are in tropical central Africa. The Himalayas also have a high incident of lightning strikes.
  
  
• St. Elmo's Fire occurs when there is a build up of static electricity. As the electrons discharge, there is a glowing effect. In 1976, in Dover, England, kids were playing soccer and suddenly realized their heads were glowing. Sailors often observed St. Elmo's Fire high up on the masts of ships. This phenomenon usually happens just before lightning strikes.

On average, 1,000 tornadoes spawn in the US every year. Texas has the highest number of strong to violent tornadoes.

• Approximately 60 people are killed each year by tornadoes, mostly by flying or falling debris.
  
  
• The typical path of damage caused by a tornado is about 50 yards wide and 1-2 miles long.
  
  
• The highest wind speeds recorded for a tornado were recorded on April 2, 1958 near Wichita Falls, Texas at 286 miles per hour.
  
  
• On May 22, 2004 in Hallam, Nebraska an F4 tornado was documented as the widest known tornado at 2.5 miles wide at the base.

On average, 100 people die each year in floods in the US. More than half of all flood fatalities are vehicle related.

When wind velocity within storms reaches 120 km/h or 74 mph, tropical storms are classified as hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere and as typhoons in the Eastern Hemisphere.

• The energy released by an atomic bomb detonation in the center of a hurricane would have no effect on the storm.
  
  
• A Derecho is a widespread and long-lived windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms.
  
  
• Florida, on average, has between 70-90 days per year of thunderstorm activity with some areas averaging more than 90 days of thunderstorm activity. The west coast, from California and North to Washington, average less than 10 days per year of thunderstorms.

Loch Ness and other sea monsters may actually be water devils, which are small whirlwinds that form over warm water and move erratically.

The windows of the lighthouse atop a 295 foot cliff at Dunnett Head, Scotland were broken by stones thrown from storm surge waves.

The U.S. Weather Bureau defines a blizzard as a snowstorm with winds of at least 35 mph and temperatures 20 F or lower for the duration of the storm.

• The first "blizzard" on record in the U.S. was in the 1870's. A newspaper in Iowa used the word blizzard to describe a snowstorm. Before that the term was used to refer to a canon shot or a volley of musket fire. By the 1880's snow blizzards were spoken of all across the US and England.
  
  
• Graupel is a form of precipitation consisting of brittle, white ice particles having a snow-like structure. It's barely distinguishable from hail. It's a little softer and has fewer layers.
  
  
• In Scotland in 1849 (before aircrafts were invented) a 20-foot long block of ice fell from the sky.
  
  
• On average, 10 inches of snow melts down to 1 inch of water.
  
  
• Snowflakes are made of ice crystals. Each snowflake is composed of as many as 200 ice crystals.

In Washington State, melting glaciers provide 470 billion gallons of water each summer.

The Kutiah Glacier in Pakistan holds the record for the fastest glacial surge. In 1953, it raced more than 12 km in 3 months averaging 112 meters per day.

Alaska is one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Major earthquakes of 7.0 magnitude or more occur almost every year in Alaska.

70,000 people have died since 1902 from volcanic eruptions and their related impacts such as tsunamis, starvation, avalanche, and disease.

• Venus is entirely veiled by clouds; however, the clouds are composed of sulfuric acid rather than water vapor like the clouds on Earth. The sulfuric acid is due in part to the numerous huge volcanic eruptions that send sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.
  
  
• Some geologists suggest that Stromboli in Italy has been active for 5,000 years. For this reason, it has been deemed the "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean."
  
  
• The longest lava flows recorded, found in Australia and Iceland, measured up to 150 km (93 miles). On the moon and Mars, flows up to 1000 km long (600 miles) have been measured.
  
  
• Most basaltic flows, like those found in Hawaii, are between 1140°C and 1170°C. That's equal to 2200°F!
  
  
• The eruption of Krakatau in 1883 sent volcanic ash and dust into the upper atmosphere where it circulated for years creating blue, brown and white rings around the sun and moon. The eruption also spawned a tsunami that reached 98 ft. in height.

In 1950 a massive forest fire in Alberta, Canada sent fine particles of soot into the atmosphere. A week later the particles reached Europe. While the fine particles of soot were in the atmosphere, they scattered the moonlight, causing it to appear blue.