During the year 2015, over half a million lightning strikes were recorded in Costa Rica, and during the first six months of 2016, there were 170,000 events recorded.

Costa Rica’s National Electric Company, ICE maintains an Atmospheric Discharge Network made up of five sensors, which have been in operation since 2002. ICE uses a modern combination of technologies to determine, the parameters of lightning events, their location (latitude and longitude) and time (nanoseconds) of each lightning event. The sensors are strategically located at sites in Liberia, San Carlos, Limón, Quepos and Paso Canoas, and the coverage or range of each sensor is 370 km, thereby ensuring full coverage of the entire country and its maritime zones.

So far this year, we have been hearing about lightning strikes primarily in rural areas, and these recent incidents have caused injuries and death to humans and animals.

• On May 2, 2017, San Carlos, Alajuela six workers who were cutting pineapples were struck by lightning and knocked to the ground, causing blunt force trauma, bruises, and fissures on their skin.
• On May 5, 2017, a man was struck by lightning and died while tending to plants on a farm in San Carlos, Alajuela. On the same day, another man died when lightning struck him at a construction site in San Carlos.
• On May 19, 2017, In Rio Segundo, Alajuela lightning struck an electrical pole, leaving the wires red-hot until firefighters arrived to diffuse the situation.
• On May 29, lightning struck and heated gas cylinders which ignited and destroyed 150 square meters of a structure in Pueblo Nuevo, Limón
• On June 6, 2017, lightning injured four athletes who were playing soccer at the Athletic Stadium in Quepos. The lightning struck an electric cable that fell and came into contact with the players, and several others became dizzy and had trouble hearing following the incident.
• On July 4, 2017, a herd of dairy cows was gathered under a tree during a severe storm in San Carlos, Alajuela, and when lighting struck the tree, six cows were killed instantly.

According to researchers, a lightning bolt is only about one inch in diameter, and the entire flash lasts only a fraction of a second. Most lightning events are typically miles long, but certain types of horizontal discharges can be ten miles or more in length.

In order to prepare for severe storms producing lightning near you; stay away from metal and water; do not seek shelter under trees and stay clear of electrical poles, wires, and equipment. The safest place to be during a lightning event is in a building or a vehicle.

The next step is to protect your home, and you will need reliable equipment that can first capture the lightning strike and then transfer that energy to a capable grounding system.

A properly installed Lightning Protection System (LPS) creates a path for the lightning to travel from the air to a grounding system that will defuse the energy away from your home.

Lightning rods or “air terminals” as they are now referred to are the least important components of a lightning protection system. The most important components are the conductor cables and the ground rods. The conductor cables should be heavy-duty cables that have the capacity to transfer the lighting from the overhead lightning rods through the cables, down to long and thick metal rods buried deep in the ground away from your home.

Unfortunately, many of our homes contain building materials that lightning can travel through, such as, structural steel; steel rebar in concrete; metal clad siding; metal roofs; cast iron waste water pipes; copper water and gas pipes; cable TV, telephone, and electrical wiring; metal wall and ceiling studs and metal door and window frames. Any of these materials can transfer lightning from the air to people inside while they are on the telephone; in the bathtub or shower; washing at the kitchen sink; touching electrical appliances or near metal doors or windows.

The optimum solution is to install lightning rods in tall trees or poles adjacent to your house or an overhead shielded wire can be installed above your home.

Here are some suggestions to protect you and your family from lightning strikes.

The best way to avoid being struck by lightning is to pay attention to weather forecasts and stay away from storms.

If you are outside –

• Avoid open areas and tall objects like trees, and find shelter in lower, dry areas. Stay away from objects that may conduct electricity, like metal fences and poles, and if you are carrying metal objects that stick out, remove them until the storm has passed.
• Take shelter in a car or modern building, because if struck, the lightning will travel through the metal in the car or building and safely into the ground, not through your body

If you are inside –

• Avoid taking baths or showers, do not wash dishes and do not use landline phones, televisions, and other appliances that are plugged into your homes electrical system.
• Stay inside for at least 30 minutes after you last see lightning or hear thunder, because lightning can still strike from 10 miles away.

The writer, Tom Rosenberger has traveled throughout Costa Rica for 24 years, inspecting homes and condominiums for people who want to purchase existing property or build new construction. 

If you would like to contact Tom, you can send him a message at, [email protected]