You might recall that for some time the National Weather Service has been using the catch-phrase "Turn around, don't drown" as a reminder not to drive into flooded areas. Well, this week has been designated National Lightning Safety Week, and comes with a fresh phrase that urges "When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!"

The choice of words, of course, reflects the danger involved in being outside and exposed when a thunderstorm is in the vicinity. Of course, we had a tragic reminder of just that in the news earlier this month, when Richard Butler took his girlfriend Bethany Lott to Max Patch Bald near Asheville intending to propose to her. Instead, they were struck by lightning, he was injured and she lost her life. Lightning was also the apparent culprit in a major gasoline storage tank fire just over a week ago in Greensboro.

NOAA and the National Weather Service have a nice web site full of lightning information, videos and safety tips, and I've included a link here for those of you who would like to brush up on those. Also, I collected some statistics on lightning specific to our state in a blog post  called "Positives and Negatives" last year, and you can find that quickly by typing "Moss positives negatives" into the search box at the top of this page. Stay safe!