Shark Attacks
A Comparison with the Number of Lightning Fatalities
in Coastal United States: 1959-2007
| State |
Period |
Number of
Lightning
Fatalities |
Number of
Shark
Attacks |
Number of
Shark
Fatalities |
| Alabama |
1959-2007 |
106 |
5 |
0 |
| California |
1959-2007 |
28 |
83 |
5 |
| Connecticut |
1959-2007 |
15 |
1 |
0 |
| Delaware |
1959-2007 |
15 |
3 |
0 |
| Florida |
1959-2007 |
449 |
555 |
8 |
| Georgia |
1959-2007 |
106 |
8 |
0 |
| Hawaii |
1959-2007 |
0 |
97 |
6 |
| Louisiana |
1959-2007 |
135 |
2 |
0 |
| Maine |
1959-2007 |
25 |
0 |
0 |
| Maryland |
1959-2007 |
124 |
0 |
0 |
| Massachusetts |
1959-2007 |
26 |
1 |
0 |
| Mississippi |
1959-2007 |
102 |
1 |
0 |
| New Hampshire |
1959-2007 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
| New Jersey |
1959-2007 |
66 |
8 |
0 |
| New York |
1959-2007 |
137 |
3 |
0 |
| North Carolina |
1959-2007 |
186 |
30 |
1 |
| Oregon |
1959-2007 |
8 |
21 |
1 |
| Puerto Rico |
1959-2007 |
33 |
2 |
0 |
| Rhode Island |
1959-2007 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
| South Carolina |
1959-2007 |
96 |
47 |
0 |
| Texas |
1959-2007 |
206 |
31 |
1 |
| Virginia |
1959-2007 |
64 |
4 |
1 |
| Washington |
1959-2007 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
|
| TOTALS |
|
1,945* |
903 |
23 |
| Number per Year (average) |
|
39.7* |
18.4 |
0.5 |
|
Copyright International Shark Attack File
|
| *Lightning data for coastal states only. |
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Source of lightning data: Lightning Fatalities, Injuries and Damage Reports in the United States from 1959-2005, NOAA.
The lightning fatality data was collected by NOAA and originates from the monthly and annual summaries compiled by the National Weather Service and published in monthly issues of Storm Data. The 2006 and 2007 data was tabulated with data from Storm Data.
Please note, the 2007 lightning data covers from January 1, 2007-October 31, 2007 at this time. It will be updated as soon as the remaining 2007 data is available from NOAA.
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Source of shark attack data: International Shark Attack File, 13 March 2008.
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© International Shark Attack File
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
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