10 Things You Never Realized About Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms might seem pretty simple from the outside looking in. It gets cloudy, the thunder and lightning pick up, the rain sweeps in, and boom! You’ve got yourself a downpour. Then, after lasting for a while, it moves off to the next area and you’re left with cloudy skies, then sun… and if you’re lucky, maybe a rainbow.

But in reality, there is so much more to thunderstorms than just that. In this list, we’ll take a look at ten fascinating facts you never knew about storms. From tips about whether or not you should shower during a thunderstorm (you shouldn’t!) to insights into all kinds of thunder-related facts, we’re going to dive deep into the unexpectedly crazy world of rain. Grab your umbrellas!

Related: 10 Crazy Things Nature Does with Mucus

10 Lightning Airlines

Back in the 1980s, NASA decided to fly an airplane through nearly 1,500 thunderstorms just to pick up data on the weather phenomena. The aircraft was called the F-106 Delta Dart, and it flew through exactly 1,496 thunderstorms. Whenever clouds would pop up and rain would materialize in the forecast, NASA would send the Delta Dart high in the sky, fly it through the storm, and have it pick up all kinds of storm data.

Specifically, its purpose in flying through so many storms was to improve lightning-strike protection in the aviation industry. And boy, did it work. The Delta Dart ended up getting struck by lightning more than 700 times during its flights, and it never crashed. The strikes allowed NASA and major airplane manufacturers like Boeing to learn how to prevent catastrophe with future lightning-related events, too.

Nowadays, a commercial airplane will be struck by lightning once or twice a year. If you have flown a decent amount in your lifetime, you’ve likely been on a plane that has been struck by lightning, and you didn’t even know it! Furthermore, it’s been decades since a plane has crashed because of a lightning strike. And we have the Delta Dart to thank.^[1]

9 Don’t Take That Shower

It’s not an old wives’ tale: it really is a bad idea to take a shower during a thunderstorm. Sure, the chances of you being, uh, “struck” by lightning while in your shower are very, very small. But they aren’t zero! If lightning does end up hitting your house during a storm, the charge may travel through the walls, reach your plumbing, and move quickly. If you’ve got the water running during that moment, the electrical charge from the lightning can give you a serious shock.

And we do mean serious. People have been killed by lightning strikes while bathing, showering, washing dishes, and even doing laundry if they came into contact with water at just the wrong moment. That’s the same reason why even indoor pools close during thunderstorms. It’s a one-in-a-million risk, sure, but the risk isn’t zero. So, the next time a thunderstorm looms overhead, just wait an hour or two before you jump in the shower.^[2]

8 Miss That Metal

Here’s one persistent myth about thunderstorms that just won’t seem to die out: that metal attracts lightning. To hear some people tell it, structures with a lot of metal in them, or having metal like jewelry or watches on your body, puts you at risk of being struck by lightning during a storm. But that’s not exactly true. In reality, the height and pointy-topped nature of a structure (or tree) is the most dominant factor in whether it’s struck by lightning, as well as whether it’s isolated or in a group.

Metal has no bearing on strike frequency at all. Natural objects and buildings alike that are very tall and stand out in the sky are at a higher risk of being struck. So, when a thunderstorm hits, climb down from that tree, or get away from that top floor of a lookout post out in the wilderness. Seek shelter at the ground level and wait it out.

To be fair, the “metal myth” has persisted for so long because metal does conduct electricity. So, when lightning strikes in the area, it can move through metal quickly and be very damaging. To that end, you should stay away from metal fencing, railings, bleachers, and the like. But you don’t need to remove your watch just because there’s a thunderstorm outside. ^[3]

7 It’s Rainin’ Frogs!

Sure, you know the iconic disco song “It’s Raining Men.” But although it has never actually rained men (that we know of!), it does rain other things from time to time. Frogs, mice, fish, and all kinds of small living creatures can come down on a town or a region during a particularly violent rainstorm. While it’s one of the weirdest things imaginable, it’s not actually super rare. It’s so well-documented, and the process behind it is so well-known at this point by meteorologists, that weather experts are no longer thrown when frogs do come sailing out of the sky during a storm.

The impetus is never the rain of the thunderstorm itself, but the high winds that it often whips up. When those winds come, if there’s a body of water over which they whirl, look out. Fish, frogs, and other water-bound creatures can be caught up in the mess and flung far and wide, carried relentlessly through the storm. They don’t weigh much, there’s a ton of them, and they are at the mercy of the wind.

In 2010, for example, an Australian town suffered through a storm that literally saw it rain thousands upon thousands of fish down upon locals’ heads. Ouch!^[4]

6 Fired Up

We all know that lightning can cause forest fires. But did you know that forest fires can actually cause lightning? Smoke and carbon microparticles from forest fires float up into the upper atmosphere after being puffed off into the air during the blaze. Over time, those particles become static hotspots. And when the atmosphere above a forest fire gets enough of a static charge from those dangerous particles, it can spark lightning.

This is fairly common in areas where there are lots of low-lying trees or significant stretches of agricultural land. Massive lightning storms have been reported due to forest fire activity in places like Brazil, Hawaii, and Peru after controlled burns of sugar cane fields. And infamously, a series of Mexican forest fires in the late 1990s combined with strange wind patterns caused a violent lightning outbreak in the United States’ Upper Midwest. Some scientists have even found that discharges from petrochemical plants are responsible for high rates of lightning in nearby areas.^[5]

5 No Calm After the Storm

Everybody assumes that things are calm after a storm. The saying “calm after the storm” exists for a reason, after all. But in reality, the time right after a storm has passed can actually be the most dangerous. The lightning, rain, and winds are scary enough, but if you’re able to find shelter and take cover, you should be mostly okay.

The real danger comes from the urge to step outside immediately after a severe storm. A particularly brutal storm can leave fallen trees, downed power lines, flooding, debris, broken glass, and all kinds of sharp objects scattered about. Combine that with broken stoplights creating traffic havoc, and you’ve got a rough situation brewing. Studies have found that people are at a much higher risk of injury and death right after a storm hits. So, tread carefully.^[6]

4 Striking Twice

There’s another common saying out there aside from “the calm after the storm.” This one goes, “lightning never strikes the same place twice.” But it’s wrong—lightning absolutely strikes the same place twice. The Empire State Building in New York City is struck by lightning an average of 23 times every year. It’s tall, pointy, and practically has a target on the top of it for lightning to hit over and over again.

And that’s the thing: lightning doesn’t keep score. It doesn’t care if it has hit the same post, pole, or building a million times. Lightning “looks” for tall, pointy, and mostly isolated objects in the sky. If the conditions were right once, they’re likely to be right again. Moral of the story? Don’t stand on rooftops or climb trees during thunderstorms.^[7]

3 Hot, Hot Heat!

One single lightning bolt is hot—really, really hot. But how hot? Well, it’s significantly hotter than the surface of the sun. Single lightning bolts have been measured at temperatures as high as 50,000°F (around 27,700°C). For comparison, the sun’s surface temperature is roughly 10,000°F (about 5,500°C). That’s five times hotter!

Of course, that temperature only exists for a remarkably short time during the actual lightning strike itself. It reflects the air and other materials the lightning passes through, not a stable, consistent temperature of the bolt. You’re not going to feel 50,000°F worth of heat for minutes—or even seconds—before and after a strike.

Interestingly, that super-rapid heating and then cooling is actually why we have thunder. The rapid heating forces the air around a lightning bolt to expand so quickly that it literally explodes. That creates the loud rumbling of thunder as the “exploded” air dissipates after the supercharged electricity of the strike.^[8]

2 Wood You?

Taking shelter from a storm is obviously the right thing to do. And when you do so, you should get off the metal bleachers and away from any metal fence posts, as those things conduct electricity. But what about that wooden structure at your favorite park—the picnic shelter, the golf course pergola, or the random lean-to? Well, it’s not ideal during a thunderstorm. In fact, it can be a death trap in the wrong circumstances.

Depending on how high the wooden structure is and whether it’s out in the open or isolated, it can actually attract lightning and turn into a very precarious spot. The same goes for tall wooden trees. Some scientists estimate that being under a tree during a storm is the second leading cause of lightning-related deaths. It’s better to just get in your car (if you’re able) and wait it out. ^[9]

1 Driving & Drowning

Let’s wrap this list with one more storm-related catchphrase we would all do well to remember: “turn around, don’t drown.” That phrase has been around for decades, and for good reason. There’s a surprisingly high number of drowning deaths every year caused by people thinking they can drive through water spread across a road after a storm. The water never looks that deep or difficult to traverse, so they push forward in their cars, get stuck, and suddenly find themselves in a dangerous situation.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, just six inches of standing water can cause a car’s engine to stall. From there, it’s surprisingly easy to lose control in floodwaters. Even if the surface looks calm, undercurrents are often more powerful than people realize. They can sweep you and your car off the road quickly, leaving you in an impossible spot. So, yeah, we’ll say it again: turn around, don’t drown. ^[10]

fact checked by
Darci Heikkinen