In the past two weeks in Russia, over a dozen people were killed or injured in lightning strikes.  Leonid Tarkov of the Russian government weather observation center FOBOS says portable electronics are to blame.  He said cellular phones and music players are like lightning magnets.  He stated, "These things are electromagnetic field carriers.  That makes them, in essence, conductors. Thunderbolts are frequently attracted to such things, and hits are often connected with a lethal outcome."

Such an idea is considered outlandish by the general scientific community.  Virtually all scientists believe that lightning cannot follow the weak electromagnetic fields produced by, among other things, portable electronics.  However, scientists do acknowledge that carrying any metallic objects increased your risk of death should lightning happen to strike.

The Russian incidents were particularly gruesome.  Last Wednesday, a lightning bolt killed three sunbathers in the town of Neftekamsk, 800 miles east of Moscow.  According to reports the bolt sent 21 feet (7.6m) of sand flying in the air.  One of the victims, Marina Sadykova, 26, a mother of a 5-month-old boy, was talking on her cell phone when the lightning struck.  Her phone was found melted to her hand, according to police.

Among other recent fatal strikes were a 10-year-old boy on a bike, another young person talking on a cell phone, and an elderly farmer tending potato plants.  Mr. Tarkov offered an additional possible cause for the recent spike in deaths -- the increase in recent storms.  He said rainfall is up 139 percent for the month and Russia has been seeing increasingly severe weather.

He described the increase in rainfall, "The absolute July maximum was observed in July 1965, when 184 millimeters (7.24 inches) of precipitation fell on Moscow.  If such weather continues, it's not unlikely for the absolute maximum to be topped."

Lightning has left many without electricity and caused fires which burnt down some houses, according to the Russian media.  To blame for the weather, according to Tarkov is a vast anticyclone that has settled over the area first carries cool humid North Atlantic winds and, hours later, subtropical heat.  He explained, "This only happens once in five to seven years.  We haven't had such intensive storm activity in a while."

In the U.S., lightning strikes in Boston this week injured 10, leaving 4 in critical condition.  So far, no deaths have been reported.  The men were attending a soccer game and all were knocked unconscious.  Michael Bosse, an EMS deputy supervisor says he has never in his 27 years on the job seen 10 or more people hit by lightning at once.

However, in this case it appears that poor choices were to blame.  The people took shelter under a tall tree.  And when the lightning started, it was naturally drawn to the tree, the largest object, and the shock traveled over the ground to the people standing nearby.

For now it appears the consensus among scientists is this -- gadgets don't cause lightning strikes, but they do make them a bit more deadly.