You could be looking at blue skies over Manhattan and never know that an anvil shaped thundercloud was wreaking havoc over downtown Newark, New Jersey, ten miles away. But, as you can see in the diagram, a strike emanating from the outer edge of an average 4 to 6 mile wide storm cell over New Jersey could strike, "Out of a clear blue sky," someone standing in front of the Empire State Building 10 miles away.

If that scientific fact isn't frightening, look what is happening from the trailing edge of the storm. A 10 mile point of danger that is even deadlier. 60% of injuries and fatalities occur from the storm's trailing edge when visible signs of the storm no longer exist.

It can be even scarier than that. It’s one thing to be in the exact path of a thunderstorm. To see the lightning and hear the thunder. But thunderstorms are not linear.

As this diagram shows, a typical thunderstorm is occuring over downtown Atlanta, while you are 12 miles away in Dunwoody, Georgia. The storm while passing by silently, invisibly, and never to be witnessed, is still deadly 10 miles in all directions from the outer edges.