Maybe 2020 isn’t so bad after all. Yes, there are the politics, the pandemic, the president, the poverty, the PPE, the prejudice, the protests, the propaganda, the pandemonium, the partisanship, the peril, the perished, the ploys, the plundering, the pollution, the pain, the pettiness, and the precariousness of it all. But you’re just focusing on the negatives (particularly those starting with the letter P). It’s really not that hard to find Positive news if you take the time to look (and look, and look, and look). So that’s what I did. Ladies and gentlemen, the US could see the fewest recorded deaths from lightning strikes this year. OK, it’s true that unimaginable strikes hitting the Bay Area last month triggered some of the largest fires in California history, and while we’re on the topic of weather, 2020’s September was the world’s hottest September on record, but you can always find a negative if you want to. Let’s stick with our bolt of good news. “Fourteen people have died from lightning strikes in the US so far this year. And because peak lightning season in the Northern Hemisphere takes place during June, July and August, the worst is likely behind us. Even if a few more deaths are reported in the next three months, the overall toll will still be below what we usually see, says John Jensenius, a meteorologist and lightning safety specialist with the National Lightning Safety Council.” (Just to be safe, I’m spending those three months inside and away from electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, metal doors or metal window frames.)