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It is estimated that there are about 1,800 thunderstorms in progress at any one time around the world, with one hundred lightning strikes every second.

Watching a thunderstorm with bright flashes of lightning can be very scary for some people, whilst for others it can be exciting.

Of course it is much better to view this from the comfort of your own home as getting caught in a storm isn't a great deal of fun.

Even worse then if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones to get hit by lightning, as a lightning bolt travels at about 14,000mph bringing 300,000 volts of electricity to the ground in just a few milliseconds.

The chances of such an accident happening are about one in three million, so you would have to be unlucky to get hit.

Put in perspective though, there is a greater chance of being hit by lightning than winning the jackpot in the UK lottery, which has odds of 14 million to one.

Yet, approximately 90 percent of people struck by lightning survive, and while people are sometimes struck directly, it is more likely that lightning will jump from an object to a person.

Part of the lightning charge flows over the body, but if more flows through the body it causes greater internal damage.

A strike can blow a victim's clothes and shoes off, which may be caused by moisture on the skin from either rain or sweat quickly turning to steam.

The New England Journal of Medicine advises that people should be wary of carrying something that will act as a conductor in a thunderstorm.

In Canada there was a case of a man in 2005 who had been out jogging and was caught in a thunderstorm.

He took cover under a tree listening to his iPod waiting for the storm to pass, only to be struck by lightning.

The electric current travelled through his headphones and threw him back two metres, leaving him with ruptured eardrums, a broken jaw and chest and neck burns. The earphones and the sweat from jogging caused a disrupted flashover, and the earphones transmitted the electrical current into his head.

The victim survived the incident, but it shows the dangers of using electrical equipment in a thunderstorm, including a mobile phone.

Or does it? The Sun newspaper in Britain reported the instance of a 14 year old girl being hit in similar circumstances as the Canadian.

In this case though the young lady was not wearing her headphones, and she escaped with minor burns.

The doctors treating her claim the iPod actually saved her life as it diverted the lightning away from her body. Spare a thought though for an American gentleman called Don Frick, who has been struck twice by lightning during his lifetime.

In the early 80s Frick was driving a tractor-trailer when its antenna was struck by lightning, injuring his left side. 27 years later he was struck for a second time while sheltering from a storm in Pennsylvania. Lightning struck the ground nearby, with the strike sending a shock through him, after which he said he was lucky to survive.

Mr Frick is clearly a man who defies the odds, so it may be a good idea for him to put a lot of money on a horse or buy a lottery ticket.