Record Low Number of Lightning Deaths in 2011

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Out of the all the bad weather news in 2011, one notable success story emerges: lightning deaths were lowest in the 71-years of record keeping. Just 26 people were killed by lightning in 2011, which is amazing considering the frequency of violent severe weather outbreaks across the U.S.

Data from NOAA and story from the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang. I do not have an explanation as to why -- with so many violent thunderstorms this year -- we had record low lightning deaths.

Let's just be grateful and hope the progress continues.

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