The building is actually a lightning rod for the surrounding area and, according to the Empire State Building’s official website, it is struck by lightning an average of 23 times each year.

Amidst the lashing rains and lightning strikes, a photographer managed to capture on video the moment a bolt of lightning struck the tallest building in the world – the Burj Khalifa.

What buildings get struck by lightning the most? Tall structures like the Empire State Building are especially vulnerable to lightning strikes because there is less of a gap between the cloud and the ground.

50,000 degrees Fahrenheit

Lightning Facts and Information. Lightning forks and rejoins itself over Table Mountain and Lion’s Head in Cape Town, South Africa. Central Africa is the area of the world where lightning strikes most frequently.

“It felt like you’d actually been walloped by something, or you were inside a bass speaker.” As the bolt struck, there was a millisecond flash of intense, burning heat, that had already dissipated by the time his brain could even register it.

Cars are safe from lightning because of the metal cage surrounding the people inside the vehicle. This may sound counter-intuitive because metal is a good conductor of electricity, but the metal cage of a car directs the lightning charge around the vehicle occupants and safely into the ground.

The short answer is ‘yes’, but there are other considerations. The biggest fear is a direct strike by lightning. When lightning strikes, it often (but not always) hits the tallest thing in the vicinity. We know that water is a good conductor of electricity, so if lightning strikes water it will generate a current.

A: Swimming during a thunderstorm is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Lightning regularly strikes water, and since water conducts electricity, a nearby lightning strike could kill or injure you. To be really safe, you should not swim in an indoor pool when lightning is around.

A direct hit by a bolt of lightning kills about 50 people per year. Those who survive a lightning strike – with temperatures that can heat the surrounding air to 50,000 Fahrenheit – often suffer permanent injuries to the brain, heart or other parts of the body.

Is Heat Lightning Dangerous? As for being struck by heat lightning, the odds are very low so long as it remains too far away to see the lightning path and hear thunder. However, if the storm is moving in your direction and continues to produce lightning, it is of course possible to be struck.

Your house will shake depending the closeness of the lightning. Thunder is a sonic boom that comes from the rapid heating of the air around a lightning strike. Sonic booms cause massive shaking to nearby objects (your house).