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Lightning - Wikipedia Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms. In the atmospheric electrical discharge, a leader of a bolt of lightning can travel at speeds of 60,000 m/s (220,000 km/h), and can reach temperatures approaching 30,000 °C (54,000 °F), hot enough to fuse silica sand into petrified lightning, known scientifically as glass channels or fulgurites which are normally hollow and can extend some distance into the ground. There are some 16 million lightning storms in the world every year. For an American, the chance of being struck by lightning is approximately 1 in 576,000 and the chance of actually being killed by lightning is approximately 1 in 2,320,000.
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