Sioux Falls, SD (KICD)– Monday is the kick-off to Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa for this year which aims to bring the focus back to being safe in times of stormy conditions.

The first day for 2024 puts focus on a hazard that many tend to not think of as a real danger in severe weather: lightning.

Peter Rogers is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls. He says there are some “standard” recommendations to follow to avoid a lightning incident.

In an average year there are as many as 25 million lightning strikes in the United States resulting in hundred of injuries and around twenty deaths.