How many thunderstorms occur daily around the world?

Forty-five thousand thunderstorms occur on a daily basis around the world. Two thousand thunderstorms are taking place on Earth at any given moment in time.

There are about 100 lightning strikes above the Earth at any given second. Approximately 20 percent of these are close-to-ground flashes, which translates to over 1.7 million lightning strikes near the Earth's surface per day.

The air surrounding lightning strikes can be heated to up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Thunder is the sound of that heated air expanding.

The odds of a human being struck by lightning in his or her lifetime are 1 in 3,000.