Look around on the Internet and you'll definitely see how a lot of electrical systems in Brazil are not quite up to North American standards. Grounding is part of it.
Also, rural household wiring is often dogshit all around the world with many places having bad earthing.
cellular devices and radios do not emit ionizing radiation - which is the kind that messes up cells, and nonionizing radiation can only increase heat which is why all devices operate under a power limit
people are studying other potential biological effects of nonionizing radiation and there is zero consensus of there being any. so some people, including some smaller government agencies, exercise caution
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/coil-mattresses-cause-canc...
What is known:
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/r...
Also, lighting is not simple mathematical electricity. It is subject to innumerable, even quantum, fluctuations at the precise moment it chooses to move. Lighting also partially creates its own path as it ionizes air/water into plasma. That's why bolts are jagged and not smooth beams between cloud and ground. It may or may not choose to go through or around you. It is best to avoid needing to ask such questions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/04/22/showering...
gift link: https://wapo.st/3GjjuO2
Better to not have your laptop or phone plugged in at all when using it during a storm.
Edit: come to think of it that's when I moved to New England so it could just be the nonexistence of lightning here. Which I do miss.
If it sounds like a bad storm, I'll start unplugging other electronics.
I thought I was doing overkill abundance of caution, but maybe it's actually a good idea.
Out in Seattle, though, if there is a single crack of thunder, everyone is at the windows trying to see what happened. It is almost comical on how this place never really gets a storm.
Does make me somewhat at odds with the crowds that hate firework noise, "because it scares pets." I'm in agreement that it is just obnoxious and I don't miss it. I'm pretty sure thunder was far more frightening for any pets I had, growing up.
All that is to say, probably wise advice on unplugging things. I know that quality of power has gotten a lot more relevant in recent years, such that you should only be worried about very local events. Still, seems safe enough not to take a risk, if you can avoid it.
Two of my family members have had devices fried by lightning strikes over the years, and not even in regions known for the worst electrical storms.
I keep some portable battery packs handy in case I need to charge a phone, and if I'm working will switch to my laptop and tablet screens.
Of course, one can't conveniently unplug everything (HVAC, big kitchen appliances, etc.) but it's easy enough to safeguard work and lifestyle electronics.
Turning the TV off and listening to the storm is usually a nice change of pace, too.
Sadly I've still been too lazy to upgrade my surge protectors lol
So, rural areas without lightning rods nor any other safety mechanism. Good study that can save lives by taking prevention measures in rural areas in developing countries. But it will probably not affect anybody living in New York.
There are vast swathes of American rural land with too-few and far between lightning rods. Maybe not in NY, I wouldn't know, but near as I can tell no U.S. state requires the installation of lightning rods in rural areas.
Increased lightning makes sense, but I'd still have expected most climate-related deaths to be caused by flooding, heat waves, disease & crop failures, with lightning being a much smaller factor. Do they just mean it's in the top 5 or 10 climate-driven causes, or is lightning really killing people on the same (or greater) scale as these other things?
mike-the-mikado•7h ago