If you live in Florida, you’ve experienced more thunderstorms than most other Americans. The state gets struck by lightning more than any other in the United States, and by a comfortable margin. Central Florida, particularly the strip between Tampa and Orlando, sees so much lightning that it’s been nicknamed Lightning Alley.
The reason is geography. Florida is a long thin peninsula surrounded by warm water. Each summer day, warm humid air from both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean flows inland. The air converges over central Florida, rises, and builds into thunderstorms - often forming around the same time every afternoon like clockwork. Some Florida cities average 80-100 days of thunderstorms per year, compared to roughly 30-40 in the Midwest.
All that lightning makes Florida one of the most dangerous places in the country for lightning fatalities. Each year, more people are killed by lightning in Florida than in any other state. State authorities have invested heavily in education campaigns - “when thunder roars, go indoors” - and the lightning fatality rate has dropped significantly over the past few decades. But the storms themselves keep coming.
