For every 1 woman who get struck by a lightning about 4 men do suffer the same.

The reasons are not clear but probably because more men walk around with pointed metal objects (golfers beware!) in bad weather than women.

About 80% of lightning victims survive the disaster but not unscathed. Here is a short list of the medical hazards of receiving a 300 kilovolt thunderbolt from the sky:

Brain and lung hemorrhage, deafness, blindness and cataract, loss of memory, spinal cord injury, sleep disorders, Post Dramatic Stress Syndrome, heart/cardiac problems, skin, muscle and ligament burns at the entry and exit points, spinal column and skull fractures, etc.

Some of the problems like visual distortions and hearing loss start slow but get progressively worse over time. In a number of cases the victim ends up totally blind or deaf.

In a typical industrial electrical-shock accident, the amount of electricity delivered is usually under 65 kilovolts. Thus a lightning delivers more than 4 times the energy in an industrial accident.

If youd like to minimize your chances of getting zapped from heavens do not live in Florida because twice as many people die from lightning shocks than in any other state.

Even if youre in Florida, do not go out between noon and 4 p.m. because 66% of lightning casualties occur during those hours.

The month of July and Sunday, from among the days of the week, are also worse than any other month or day for getting hit by a thunderbolt.

Obviously thin pointed metal objects like golf clubs, metal canes and umbrellas do not help either. Tall objects like towers are also well known to attract disaster more than any others.

So I would say your chances of getting hit by a lightning would be at a maximum if you are playing golf in Florida right next to energy line towers or broadcasting towers on a Sunday afternoon in July.