According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the odds of being struck by lightning in the States are approximately one in a million. Say you’re a particularly unlucky fellow who happened to experience a bolt to the trunk. You’re probably thinking something along the lines of aw, that’ll never happen to me. But what if, despite the unlikely chance of you being hit by lightning, the clouds decide to be cruel and it happens anyway?

Let’s discuss how lighting is generated before getting in the aftereffects. First, there’s a static charge buildup in the clouds. Ice descends from the cloud tops and strips electrons from water droplets that ascend from the bottom of the cloud. A massive negative charge forms at the base, and it’s so ginormous that it repels the electrons on Earth by pushing them into the ground; Earth’s surface becomes positively charged. Air between the two charges is then unable to keep them apart because they overcome the air’s insulated properties. And…voilà! The stream of electrons that shoots down to the ground is lightning.

Sky electricity delivers billions of bolts and watts that are often fatal. Many of our bodily systems rely on electric rhythm; lightning disrupts these electric rhythms, causing cardiac arrest and seizures. If the brain doesn’t misfire, it can still be cooked. Heat from the strike leaves third-degree burns at the points where lightning entered and exited the body and occasionally sets hair and clothes on fire. Any metals—necklaces, belt buckles, bracelets—will become overheated and leave burns.

          Lightning not only heats your body, but the air around you as well (up to 36,000 degrees °C). The bolt becomes a shock wave when you’re in the middle of it and can send you flying or burst your eardrums. Either way, the sensation is excruciatingly painful. Effects such as chronic pain, headaches, personality changes, difficulty concerting, muscles twitches, and more tend to linger. Physical scars from lightning strikes (Lichtenberg figures) resemble lightning itself.

Lesson of the day: Pay attention to the weather and avoid open areas and tall objects, or risk experiencing the unpleasant aforementioned.