We experienced an evening to remember the other night when that tornado-generating storm pushed through from Texas, causing flash flooding. The resulting thunder and lightning continued most of the night, keeping me awake, half listening for the city's warning siren.

It also set me to wondering how often we experience lightning strikes during storms compared with other states. I know it was a weird thought, but at 3:40 a.m., it seemed appropriate, all things considered.

So the following day I located a relevant statistic on where Arkansas stands in relation to the nation.

Turns out, we are well up the ladder in the likelihood of being struck by lightning here each year: We are ranked sixth (even above tornado-ridden Oklahoma in seventh place!). I would have guessed we'd be 15th or higher.

The state where data show we are most likely to be struck is Wyoming, according to New Jersey gambling experts at PlayNJ.com, who analyzed the Vaisala Xweather annual lightning report from 2023 to reach their conclusions, weighting each state's population to determine the number of annual strikes per 1,000 residents.

Following Wyoming came South Dakota, Montana, Mississippi, and Nebraska.........

© El Dorado News Times