Awareness, warnings and communications have combined to curtail storm fatalities.

As procedures to predict violent storms have improved and been refined over the years, injury and death tolls from such violent natural events such as tornadoes have dropped considerably.

A recent spate of tornadoes to the south and east produced at least 35 deaths, numerous injuries and tremendous damage and loss. Those conversant with the tragedies admit things would have been much worse for people in the region had there not been lead-time warnings. Sadly, some ignored the threat.

And just as tornado forecasting has cut the loss of life, so has the awareness of the furious effects of lightning curtailed death figures. Anymore, most people with the chance to take shelter during a lightning storm will do so because they have been given solid evidence of the bad things that can happen.

Time was when people tended to go matter-of-factly about their business during lightning storms. In the 1942-51 period in the United States, there were 3,048 lightning strike fatalities, according to the National Weather Service. In the 1992-2001 period, that figure had been cut nearly sixfold, to 518. Official and public knowledge and advice and improved communications have made that happen.

Anyone who has been on a golf course during an electrical storm and has seen what a lightning blast can do to a tree or, worse, a golfing partner is quick to run for cover when the skies begin to blaze. Even champions like Lee Trevino are not immune. He once was hit when he was in the wrong place.

Fairly recently, a student at Kansas University was going to class on what appeared to be relatively safe part of the campus when lightning shot down a tree and knocked her senseless. The way her clothing was shred by the bolt and the amazing fact she was able to survive still causes amazement for those aware of the incident.

There are those, of course, who chide others about “running scared” during stormy times that produce tornadoes and lightning. By now, however, it is clear that anyone who takes for granted personal safety in such conditions is courting disaster.

One of the first strong local indications of the importance of getting people in a public place to safety in a storm came in the middle 1960s when Kansas was playing Texas Tech at Lubbock, and a major tornado and lightning scare erupted. The teams were called off the field, spectators were advised to leave, and the game was shortened because of the weather attack. Nobody was hurt, though damage occurred. Increasingly since that time, outdoor athletic events of all kinds, including local high school football games of late, have been either postponed, terminated or rescheduled because of lightning threats. Few officials are willing to tempt fate on that score anymore.

The fact that greater awareness and respect for nature’s wrath have emerged in the past few decades has clearly prevented many death and injury. The drop of 3,048 lightning strike fatalities to 518 over the years shows that people have become much more attuned to just what Mother Nature can do and take advantage of better communications systems to herald danger.

That’s to all our advantage.