Sharks vs. Lightning Fatalities
A Comparison of Unprovoked Shark Attacks with the Number of Lightning Fatalities in Coastal United States: 1959-2010
| State | Number of Lightning Fatalities | Number of Shark bites | Number of Shark bite Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 109 | 5 | 0 |
| California | 30 | 89 | 7 |
| Connecticut | 17 | 1 | 0 |
| Delaware | 15 | 3 | 0 |
| Florida | 459 | 603 | 9 |
| Georgia | 111 | 10 | 0 |
| Hawaii | 0 | 97 | 6 |
| Louisiana | 139 | 1 | 0 |
| Maine | 27 | 1 | 0 |
| Maryland | 126 | 0 | 0 |
| Massachusetts | 30 | 2 | 0 |
| Mississippi | 104 | 1 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| New Jersey | 68 | 8 | 0 |
| New York | 139 | 3 | 0 |
| North Carolina | 193 | 39 | 1 |
| Oregon | 8 | 22 | 1 |
| Rhode Island | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| South Carolina | 98 | 51 | 0 |
| Texas | 213 | 32 | 1 |
| Virginia | 66 | 5 | 1 |
| Washington | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| TOTALS (Annual Average) | 1,970 (37.9) | 974 (18.7) | 26 (0.5) |
Source of shark attack data: International Shark Attack File, 10 February 2011.
Source of lightning data: Lightning Fatalities, Injuries and Damage Reports in the United States from 1959-1994, 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 1995 through 2010 data was tabulated with data from Storm Data.