Overview
- With the 2026 rainy season under way, UNAM researchers and the national meteorological service are promoting a new national map that overlays lightning activity with social vulnerability to guide prevention.
- The university’s analysis shows roughly 2,500 lightning deaths between 1998 and 2021 and identifies Estado de México as the deadliest state with 539 fatalities and high‑risk municipalities such as Villa Victoria, San Felipe del Progreso, Ixtlahuaca and Toluca.
- Researchers say most fatal strikes occur when people are outdoors, working in fields, walking, or sheltering under trees, and that deaths also happen inside homes that lack lightning protection like grounded rods.
- The map highlights how poverty, weak infrastructure and limited access to health care raise fatality risk in rural communities and recommends targeted measures such as safe shelters, lightning rods for key buildings, and forecasts in indigenous languages.
- Meteorological patterns tied to the Sierra Madre Occidental and central‑southern regions boost summer thunderstorm and lightning frequency and the study’s focused warnings could cut deaths if local authorities expand forecasts, outreach and protective infrastructure.