Across northern Australia at this time of year, things are getting very, very sweaty. Lightning strikes likely to spark fires as thunderstorms forecast for tinder-dry Queensland ... Gissing says that bushfires make up 12% of normalised losses from natural disasters in Australia. 144, 706–708. Dr Franklin's father used to work at Pinelands, on Darwin's outskirts, at a receiver station that used to feed weather data to Malaysia and Japan, among other places. volume 8, pages217–233(1993)Cite this article. The keraunic (or ceraunic) level was the average … We’ve had a very dry 2019 and we expect those very dry conditions to continue until 2020.”. What's a microwave weapon and is the Havana Syndrome real? NASA, the American space agency, says more than 2,000 storms are active in the world at any given moment. J. Aust. "Whereas if we enter monsoon period where we've got moisture all the way up through the atmosphere, we tend to see very little lightning, and that also holds true for tropical cyclones. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Aust., Electr. Baker, T.: 1984, Lightning deaths in Great Britain and Ireland,Weather "We used to be, or very close to it, that was going off some old methods of how we used to judge whether a place was lightning prone," he said. J. Nurs. - 162.144.141.152.

Golde, R. H. and Lee, W. R.: 1976, Death by lightning,Proc. Lightning is a phenomenon that has long been observed by the Bininj Aboriginal people of Arnhem Land, who believe that Namarrgon is the creation ancestor responsible for dramatic weather. 27(4–5), 99–108. Ghezzi, K. T.: 1989, Lightning injuries: A unique treatment challenge,Postgrad. McManus, R.: 1987, Summer is the electric season,Sierra Am. Information on fatalities from lightning strikes has been extracted from a specially compiled database on natural hazards in Australia. Strasser, E. J., Davis, R. M., and Menchey, M. J.: 1977, Lightning injuries,J. Gissing says that bushfires make up 12% of normalised losses from natural disasters in Australia. If you find yourself in a very dire situation with lightning on top of you, try to stand with your feet as close as possible together, but not quite together, and that way if the lightning does strike near you, the electricity's not going to have much potential to cross your body and cause you injury.". "The Indigenous Australians tens of thousands of years ago have observed, 'well jeez, there's a lot of lightning here', and they've named a spirit after him," Dr Franklin said. PubMed Google Scholar, Coates, L., Blong, R. & Siciliano, F. Lightning fatalities in Australia, 1824–1991. Storms that occur over land generally produce more lightning than those out at sea, because there's more dry air in their upper levels, he said. Steven A Rutledge, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, has conducted research around Darwin with NASA and the BOM in the 1980s and 1990s. 2(5), 379–388. A. and Cantrill, S. V.: 1985, Lightning injuries,J. Records dating from 1803–1991 indicate that at least 650 persons have been killed by lightning strikes. And for this week and the coming week, there’s no immediate end in sight.

"The updrafts and downdrafts can cause what we call charge separation, and electrons and positive ions will travel around in the cloud and the electrical imbalance we see as lightning is the discharge of electricity," said Jackson Browne, who is a meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology in Darwin.

Derby in WA takes out the top Australian spot at number 61 worldwide, Kununurra is second at 83, and McMinns Lagoon outside of Darwin is third at 355. So how do Top End residents possibly cope with the relentless humidity and high temperatures? 19(3), 276–282. J. Aust.