Thunderstorms are most likely to occur in the late afternoon and early evening hours. Thunderstorms produce some of the most powerful weather on earth, including tornadoes, large hail, and destructive straight-line winds. However, the most dangerous aspect of thunderstorms is usually lightning. Since the late 1980s, lightning has killed or injured more people in Colorado than any other weather hazard, with an average of 3 fatalities and 18 injuries each year. The toll could be even worse since studies indicate that many lightning accidents are not reported.
Lightning also causes most forest and rangeland fires in Colorado.
This situation usually occurs when lightning is generated from thunderstorms which produce little or no rainfall. More than 40 million lightning strikes occur every year in the contiguous United States. Each lightning stroke contains millions of volts of electricity, enough to supply power to several homes for a month. Lightning is unpredictable and occasionally behaves in a strange manner. It can destroy one object without touching another one nearby.