Scientists warn of increased lightning strikes due to climate change

 Scientists have warned that climate change is increasing the likelihood of lightning strikes across the United States of America.

A severe thunderstorm hit Washington, DC, yesterday, as lightning strikes killed two people and injured two others in critical condition in Lafayette Square, a small park across the street from the White House.

Higher temperatures could draw more moisture into the atmosphere while also encouraging rapid updrafts, two major factors for the formation of the charged particles that lead to lightning strikes.

A major study published in 2014 in a scientific journal warned that the number of lightning strikes could increase by 50 percent this century in the United States, where a one-degree Celsius rise in temperature leads to a 12 percent increase in the number of lightning strikes.

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