Facts on lightning strikes that you need to know

In a study just out in the prestigious journal Science, a team of researchers deliver an alarming prediction: A global warming world will see a major increase in lightning strikes.

The study author David Romps, a climate researcher at the University of California, Berkeley explains that there are two central factors that set the atmospheric stage for lightning.

The first is the amount of water or precipitation, and the second is the instability of the atmosphere, a situation which allows air to rise rapidly.

Lightning strikes are highly consequential for a number of reasons. While they do not produce a large number of human deaths directly -- somewhere between 23 and 48 people are killed by lightning per year in the US -- lightning is one of the principal causes of dangerous wildfires.

Here are the facts that you need to know about lightning strikes and the do's and don’ts.

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