Why are there so many lightning strikes?
 

We moved to The Villages on June 11th. Since moving here there have been many direct lightning strikes to homes, several with severe damage. Never in my life have I lived in a place with so many strikes. Is there a way to prevent or reduce our home's chance of being struck?

We moved here from Southern Florida, where the storms are extremely intense and still this is very different.

See today's posts for Intense lightning storm 2024-7-20 for more information. Also see the poa4us.org web site and select the Bulletin Tab for the July issue and page 14 for an article on the lightning issues we face living here in the Lightning Capital of the USA.

Thank you! I finally found the thread but I don't see much in the way of mitigating risk.

We have three companies coming out to give an estimate on a lightning rod system but does this safeguard your home completely?

I've never in my life been afraid of storms but I do find my anxiety level increasing with every storm.

Do a search of this forum for LIGHTNING STRIKES. There is a long thread started on 6/24 with lots of info.

As noted above there are several threads on this subject. Lightning protection Systems, these tend to provide some protection for direct strike, then there are the surge protection which is very useful for the close in strikes. We have the surge protection but not the LPS.

Village Tinker gave you a good answer.

When my husband and I moved to Florida in 96' I was afraid of the frequent and intense lightening storms. If it is any comfort to you over time I've gotten used to them and they don't scare me. That isn't to say there isn't danger during a lightening storm but over time I became accustomed to it. It took a long time but now I sleep through a lightening storm and believe I sleep a bit better for some reason.

& this guy is an electrical engineer.

:boom:

Wonder what the answer to your question as to why?

I do not understand 5 homes in the villages burned this year due to lightning strikes, imagine a lot more suffered damages from lightning.

My guess: More active storm season this year combined with dense housing development. There is more lightning and it is going to hit somewhere. With houses blanketing a large portion of the area, the chances are high that it will hit a house.

Two years ago we had regular afternoon thunderstorms. Last year we had few. This year they seem to be more active.

Parts of Florida have that “lightning capital” title. OP probably should have due diligence on weather here.

Of course it’s no different than coming from tornado alley, wildfires, or flood zones.

Since we can’t change the weather, we look at a possible strike or any other weather related issue as a remake or upgrade to house.

We've averaged 6-8 that I'm aware of a year the past 5 yrs.

I have a suspicion (and some evidence) metallic gas lines in the attic increase the risk of fire.

We got our rods from A1 Lightning Protection. Danny is great. Takes the time to explain the code and what they do. Also got whole house surge protection from Pikes electric.

As for "why so many" see this article.

Seeing 4, 5, 6 homes in The Villages per year being struck, and some totally lost to fire, we bought a Lightning Protection System and whole house surge protection a few years ago. While typical homeowners insurance covers damage, it's the inconvenience of losing possessions and living elsewhere for the year or two it takes to rebuild the home that makes it easy to justify.

The Lightning Protection System, a network of 6 or 7 lightning rods on the typical home, will divert a direct strike from your roof to the ground. The surge protection is used to protect from the ground surge of electricity that happens when lightning hits the ground nearby, nextdoor, or a few houses away. I like the belt + suspenders approach of having both.

There are two fully certified firms that install lightning protection in The Villages. Both have good reputations (and long backlogs). Don't use just any electrician for this work, use properly certified people.

A1 lightning Protection
352-465-0620

Triangle Lightning Protection
352-483-7020

If you want a better sense of the activity, download the "My Lightning Tracker" app to your phone and watch it during any of our summer afternoon storms.

P.S. I am not financially involved with either of these firms, but am a pleased customer of A1.

Nothing gives you full protection. Lighting rods give you and additional layer of protection.

We do not have LPS but whenever the Lightning app on my iPhone tells me lightning is in the vicinity, we unplug all of our sensitive equipment (computers, printers, modems - both power & coaxial cable, etc.). Hopefully the expensive items in the house will not suffer damage due to an electrical surge from a near strike. Before folks chime in, we do not pull refrigerator plugs and other large appliances simply because of the effort to pull them out from the wall. We roll the dice on those items.

You are correct about the gas line in the attic leading to more fires. I was told there was a lawsuit in 2007 about this, don’t know how it turned out.

This SHOULD be part if the regular build and Not need to be added later.

I blame the developers for being cheap.

Lightning
 

BUYER BEWARE!

There are only TWO companies recommended for Lightning Protection system - A1 & TRIANGLE. There others are selling inferior systems that MAY NOT work & protect your house.

Lightning Strikes near The Villages
 

My Tempest weather station recorded this data from Fenney:

Lightning Strikes total (per calendar year)

2023 98120
2024 64799 (partial to date)

These are strikes noted within about a 25 mile radius.

Tempest

(click on the icon on the top right for details and on each item for graphs)

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Get your house fitted with a Lightning Protection System ie ‘Lightning rods’ by a reputable local company. We had ‘Triangle’ fit ours 2 yrs ago, about $1200. Don’t listen to folks who tell you they will ‘attract’ the Lightning. Also go to one of the Lightning talks by a guy from the Science & Tech Club-I think there’s one in August at one of the Rec Centers.

Why would anybody run around the house to unplug things during an electrical storm? How are you going to unplug the refrigerator, stove, furnace, freezer, all the most expensive items in your house? Get a whole house surge suppressor and no need to do this. I get the surge suppressor from my local utility for $6 a month. I think this is superior to the electrician installed unit in the electrical panel for a number of reasons:
1) you don’t pay for an electrician to install it
2) you don’t pay the large sum of $500-$1000 for the unit itself
3) since it’s installed behind the panel, how are you able to look at the lights to see if it’s working or not?
The suppressor installed at the outside meter is maintained by the utility, catches the surge before it enters the house, and you can check the lights very easy.
For computers, have a UPS device that gracefully shuts down the computer based on battery life.

Lightning Srikes per month in July
 

July 2024 strikes so far: 32346

July 2023 strikes total: 28174

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Youcan unplug washers, dryers and small appliances

The Villages Lightning Study Group which Len Hathaway leads gives presentations all through the year at club meetings, special meetings organized by local residents interested in lightning and at the POA meetings. Here is the link to the POA meeting since it was recorded. It will explain all the information about lightning and surge protection and the problem with the flexible gas lines used many years ago and what to do about it.

https://youtu.be/IJMLyywdB0A?t=1831

A lot of people blame the developers for a lot of things - doesn't make any of it valid.

Whether you pay for the LPS as a standard feature, as an option added before purchase, or as an aftermarket add-on, you the homeowner will pay for it. If anyone is being cheap it is you.

I believe what is more accurate is you blame to the developer for not taking care of this for you which now requires some effort on your part.

The number of homes that have NOT been hit by lightning is FAR GREATER than the number of homes that have. In an area that adds 3,000 homes per year, six to eight lightning strikes is nothing. Your odds of being hit by lightning are greater than the odds of winning the lottery but that isn't saying much.

With all that said, I am seriously considering having an LPS installed when I have my roof replaced. I've paid far more in home, car, and health insurance than I will for an LPS system so if it is never used I'm not out that much money. On the other hand, if it protects my house just once then it will be money well spent.

This is exactly what I do. Since all of my electronics tend to be clustered together in an area, everything gets plugged into a power strip so all I have to do is unplug the power strip.I might even rig up a power strip behind my fridge that both the stove and fridge can plug into and that I can reach easily enough to unplug it.

Just remember you can take all kinds of steps to decrease the potential of a hit.And if the house next door gets hit and burns yours may catch fire too. Of have melted siding. Houses so close together are vulnerable. Make sure you have insurance. An escape plan for you and your pets. Welcome to what some have named the Lightning capital of Florida.

Post #9 hit (no pun intended) on it, I believe. The reason that there are so many lightning strikes reported here is that there are just so many more things for it to strike. A severe thunderstorm in, say, rural Kansas or the Minnesota prairie can produce a spectacular light show (I've seen many), but when houses are spaced a mile or more apart as compared to maybe 10 yards here in TV--well, TV is a target-rich environment compared to those examples.

My first year here I lost a new TV, after a storm. Now I have a SECO surge protector on my house, and all my electronics are plugged into APC Upses....... so far so good. Of course lightning rods are a game changer, I don't have them here, but I had them on my barn on my horse farm in SC, they took a direct hit to the barn, and saved my 6 horses and two donkeys.

As a point of reference, the Navy would secure the base in Orlando almost every day around 4pm due to the lighting strikes. Only lasted about 5 mins.

For those who do not know, securing the base means everyone must rush inside the closest building and amf cars must stop and be put in park when the siren went off, and stay until the siren was sounded again.

I could taste the lightning when I was outside as the alarm sounded.

That base no longer exists, this was in the late 80s.

Hard wired major appliances such as your, HVAC, garage door openers, ceiling fans, microwave, dish washer, tankless water, SPA/Pool, etc. remain unprotected.

Lightning strikes and lightning hits are two different stats. I agree that if there are more man-made features in the same area, the percentage of strikes that are hits will be higher.

In summary, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch and no one here gets out alive.

there is a weather club here in tv lead by john shewchuk, retired meteorologist who also gives presentations about lightening, et al at other clubs between 466 an 466a

I ask to add having a LPS installed during my custom build 5yrs ago so the wires would be under the roof as they do for the critical infrastructure buildings. But they refused.

The CSST gas line manufacturers now recommend adding a LPS in lightening prone areas.

So maybe the local counties should add requiring a LPS for new construction of homes using CSST to their building codes.

As I’m sure you know, FL is the lightning capital of the world. I have never been afraid of lightning but Saturday’s storm was the most intense and longest thunderstorms I’ve ever seen. I must admit that at times it was a little scary. It’s still the rainy season so I suspect there will be more.

I have been in Florida for over 50 years, Come on dude this Florida, the lightning capital of the world!

Definitely get lightening rods
 

I bought a house in TV two years ago. Last year a home totally was destroyed in the Village of Linden. I went to a POA meeting on educational lightening safety and protection. (Meeting was on their website) Make sure you go with a lightening rod company that is fully qualified. I called A1 Lightening and had rods installed. Cost goes by how many peaks you have on your roof, bird cage, gas pipe etc. I have an Arlington CYV and the cost was $1650. I also had Seco put a whole house surge protector on my electric meter. I then put individual surge protector strips on my computer/printer and TVs and garage door opener.
Now when it thunders and lightening I feel safe.

In response to your point number 3, it is not installed behind the panel. You can look at the lights anytime you are in the garage.

We have had 5 homes destroyed this year by lightning, two last year, and one in 2022. The previous record was four in 2015. However, we had none in 2010, 2011, 2012 for over 1,100 days. For more information on lightning consider attending The Villages Philosophy Club's meeting on Friday, August 23 at 4 PM at the Lake Miona Regional Recreation Center where Lightning Tips for Villagers will be presented. This covers personal lightning safety, indirect strikes to appliances and electronics, direct strikes to the home, and debunks 10 myths about lightning. You only need a Villages ID to attend.

It's all part of Florida living....