Lightning travels through the air at 90 thousand miles per second - nearly half the speed of light. Florida has more thunderstorms than any other state in the U.S. - about 90 a year. Lightning provides more energy than all the electric generators combined in the U.S. Lightning starts half of all the fires in our national forests. At least 100 Americans are killed by lightning each year.
Lightning bolts are channels of electric energy about two inches across.
They may be as short as 200 feet or as long as 20 miles.