Comment by ChuckMcM | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ChuckMcM | Hacker News Reader

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   > North America: 15,826 strikes!!

The funny part is that they happen mostly in the midwest and that area is sometimes called the 'bible belt' (for its strong evangelical christian population) and lightning strikes are a metaphorical means of punishment by God (as in "May lightning strike me down if I'm lying ...")

That irony aside, I am wondering about that South America number, it seems like at equidistant latitudes there are similar lightning environments on both sides of the equator and yet a nearly 16x reduction in number of strikes? What is up with that?

> The funny part is that they happen mostly in the midwest and that area is sometimes called the 'bible belt'

Funny idea, but for the record, there is almost no overlap between the Midwest and the Bible Belt (which is essentially the South):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Belt

Your right of course. On the map the of lightning strikes they are (or at least were when I looked at it) happening in the Bible Belt according to the Wikipedia link. Along the top of Texas and up through Missouri. My error was in conflating the name of the regions.

I apologize to any folks who live in the region known as the midwest who were offended.

Are you confusing "Bible Belt" with "Tornado Alley"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_alley

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