ASK US
How does lightning travel through water?
“I was once swimming when a thunderstorm began, and I’ve heard that this is dangerous. But how does lightning spread in water? Do fish die?”
METEOROLOGY
Lightning most frequently strikes on dry land, but thunderstorms still pose a major threat to swimmers and bathers, who will be the highest points in the ocean. Lightning always takes the shortest possible route to the ground, so it will often strike a swimmer moving across the surface.
If the swimmer is not killed by the electric shock or the heat produced by lightning, the person
