I don't have the facts to prove this, but my guess is that more people arezapped by lightning on the Fourth of July weekend than on all of the otherholiday weekends combined. That's because a wealth of the population spendstime out of doors this weekend, plus we have reached the peak of thethunderstorm season.Make no mistake, lightning is dangerous, and I urge you not to get yourselfgrilled this holiday weekend. Out of doors, there is no real safe place to be,but open areas near a tall object are the most dangerous. A car is a reasonablysafe place during lightning, but indoors away from open windows is best. By theway, lightning will strike the same place twice.

Furthermore, never ever believe that it has to be raining before lightning canstrike where you are. Lightning strikes out in all directions from the storm,so you can get zapped when not a drop of rain is falling.

On average, lightning kills more than 70 people in the United States andinjures hundreds each year. That's not a big deal unless, of course, you areone of the ones struck. Then it is a bad day.

Speaking of lightning, what does a lightning rod do? A lightning rod offers acone of protection to people and structures. When hit by a discharge oflightning, the metal rod directs all the current straight to the ground. Theangle of the cone of protection is approximately 45 degrees.

So why doesn't a tall tree act as lightning rod and offer protection? Here isthe thing. A lightning rod is made of metal and is designed to conduct a strongelectrical current. A tree is not. Wood is probably one of the worst conductorsof electricity there is. Standing tall and having a good ground (its roots) alone tree begs to be hit by lightning during a storm. Being a bad conductor,however, the current rips violently through the wood instead of passing swiftlyto the ground. This creates a tendency for the lightning to ricochet in variousdirections which puts the those seeking shelter under the tree in harmsway.

Story by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist John Kocet.