A Utah man has died after being struck by lightning while riding a jet ski in St. Petersburg, Florida. Steve Matheson, 47, a father of four, was jet skiing in Fort De Soto Park on Saturday evening around 6:30 p.m. when he was hit by a bolt of lightning. He was transported to a local hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
Matheson's family has initiated a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the costs of bringing his body back to Utah and to support his wife and children. The fundraiser description highlighted Matheson as a devoted husband and loving father whose family was his greatest joy.
The incident is the third deadly lightning strike to occur in Florida in less than a week. On August 23, Kenya Glasgow, 31, and her two-year-old daughter were fatally struck in Margate. Later that same day, a child was struck by lightning near Boynton Beach and taken to a trauma center.
These events bring the total number of lightning-related deaths in the U.S. this year to 13. In May, 18-year-old Michael Aiden Vargas died after being struck by lightning while kayaking on the Blackwater River in Santa Rosa County.
Florida is known as the "lightning capital" of the United States, having recorded over 2,000 lightning injuries in the past 50 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While millions of lightning strikes hit the ground annually in the U.S., the odds of being struck are less than one in a million, with only about 10 percent of strikes proving fatal. Research indicates that boating, fishing, and camping are the activities most frequently associated with lightning-related fatalities. Activities like jet-skiing, which involve being exposed on open water, can increase the risk of being struck.
Robert Molleda, a National Weather Service Meteorologist, noted that early lightning strikes can be particularly dangerous as people may not be aware of the threat even if the sky appears dark. He advised that summer storms can develop rapidly, and the first rumble of thunder may be too late to seek shelter.