Your Odds of Being Struck By Lightning in Michigan Are Low, But Not Zero

Add this to the list of things you didn't know: National Lightning Safety Awareness Week is June 22-28, 2025, with the International Lightning Safety Day falling on June 28, 2025. While your odds of being struck by lightning in Michigan are lower than in some states, they aren't zero.

RELATED: Thunderstruck: Which Michigan City Tops Lightning Strikes?

Michigan’s Lightning Strike Risk Explained

According to the National Lightning Safety Council, Michigan ranks 34th in the country for risk of being struck by a fatal bolt. Whose number one?

Why Florida Tops Lightning Fatalities

It appears that some of Michigan's seniors and vacationers intentionally head to the mecca of fatal lightning strikes, and some of them visit multiple times a year. Between 2015 and 2024, Florida led the 50 states with no less than 50 fatalities. That's an average of 10 deaths per year in the Sunshine State.

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In Michigan, two people died as a result of being struck by lightning within the same 10-year period. Frankly, I like those odds a lot better than Florida. Plus, we don’t have sharks, alligators, or snakes the size of buses, either. All the more reason to leave the other peninsula state to do its thing.

Staying Safe During a Lightning Storm

What's interesting about these lightning-related deaths and injuries is that many of them happen indoors. Oftentimes, when it strikes a home, it gets channeled through it via the plumbing and/or electrical wiring.

RELATED: New Study: Michigan Tops U.S. in Power Outage Risk in 2025

So, when you see a storm rolling in, even if you are indoors, avoid making contact with anything that is plugged in and refrain from using all plumbing, such as sinks, tubs, and showers.