Protecting yourself from lightning

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Lightning is one the most dangerous weather phenomena.

Scientists still do not understand it completely. Until they do, there is little people can do to protect themselves from lightning.

"We learned a long time ago that in order to provide some technical measures of protection you need to understand the science," said Dr. Vlad Mazur with the National Severe Storms Laboratory.

High-speed video may hold clues to understanding lightning processes. The video is taken at 8,000 or more frames per second.

What you get in those frames are amazing images showing spikes of lightning all pointing to an origin but occurring further and further from the origin until a bolt hits the ground. To the naked eye, these spikes are just a bright flash. The whole occurrence takes just two seconds. Below is an example of a lightning strike in slow motion by Tom Warner:

Dr. Mazur is concentrating his work on understanding upward lightning and how lightning acts around tall objects like air traffic control towers on airport fields. His work is based in Rapid City, SD because the flat landscape and multiple television towers in the area mimic an airfield.

"We're measuring electrical characteristics of this upward lightning, magnetic characteristics of this lightning and light emissions, and high speed video," said Dr. Mazur. "And, we do it from several sites so it’s a very comprehensive study."