Lightning can be a problem everywhere. Many buildings and airplanes have lightning rods to safely “ground” or shunt the charge.
It kills roughly 49 people in the US each year.
It’s responsible for over 10% of all wildfires in the US annually.
While lightning is dangerous and scary, it’s also vital for life to survive on this planet -
* Lightning turns NO2 into NO3 (NO=Nitrogen). Our bodies need nitrogen to survive. However, our bodies can’t breakdown NO2 (one of the gasses around us that we breathe in). Lightning, however, converts NO2 onto NO3 (gives it an extra oxygen molecule). NO3 can be taken in by plants, which we then consume (or we consume things that have eaten plants), thus giving our bodies the nitrogen it needs to survive.
* Lightning creates ozone (turns O2 into O3 ; O=Oxygen). Ozone is gas needed in the atmosphere to keep out harmful rays from the sun. ozone breaks down quickly, so it needs to be constantly resupplied. (Note – Ozone is only “bad” when it’s at the surface since our bodies can only process O2).
* Lightning purifies the air. (again, ozone). O3 is unstable (nature wants to make it O2), so when it encounters another molecule (such as a pollutant, mold, bacteria, odors, etc.), it attaches its extra oxygen to the pollutant, thus rendering it “harmless” (oxidization). Once a pollutant is oxidized by ozone, it is no longer toxic, allergenic or odor causing.
Shuhak 