Editing Roy Sullivan (section)

== Statistics ==
{{Multiple image|direction=vertical|align=right|image1=Global Lightning Frequency.png|image2=Map of USA VA.svg|width=300|caption2=Top: World map showing relative frequency of lightning strikes. Bottom: US map showing location of Virginia, which has a relatively high lightning rate.}}

The odds of being struck by lightning for over the period of 80 years have been roughly estimated as 1:10,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/medical.shtml|title=Medical Aspects of Lightning|publisher=National Weather Service|year=2011|access-date=May 26, 2011|archive-date=March 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305104248/http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/medical.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> If the lightning strikes were independent events, the probability of being hit seven times would be (1:10000)<sup>7</sup> = 1:10<sup>28</sup> or 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1 in 10 [[Names of large numbers|octillion]]). These numbers do not quite apply to Sullivan, however, who by the nature of his work and his physical location was exposed to more storms than the average person. Virginia, where he lived, averages 35 to 45 thunderstorm days per year, most of which fall in June, July, and August. Between 1959 and 2000, lightning killed 58 people and injured at least 238 people in Virginia. In the United States, 3,239 people were killed and 13,057 injured by lightning in the same period. Most of those were males between 20 and 40 years old caught outdoors.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=August 18, 2009|url=http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/lwx/lightning/va-lightning.htm|title=Virginia Thunderstorms and Lightning|author=Barbara Watson}}</ref>
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