Thunderstorms are expected to roll into the southeast today, bringing potentially dangerous lightning with rain showers.

According to Statistics Canada, each year on average in Canada there are between two and three lightning-related deaths and 180 lightning-related injuries.

Environment Canada Meteorologist Natalie Hasell says that despite the storms not being too severe people should still be watching out.

"So we do this thing at environment and climate change Canada where despite the fact that every thunderstorm is actually really dangerous. Because it's defined by lightning and lightning is not good for the human body, not good for property and infrastructure. If that's all we're expecting, they're just called thunderstorms."

"Severe thunderstorms are the ones that are likely to cause more damage. Either due to heavy rain, large hail, strong straight-line winds or you know the occasional tornado. So looking at those storms that we're expecting in the next while, we are talking about the nonsevere thunderstorms, but they are still extremely dangerous because of the lightning."

Hasell describes some of the precautions people should take if a thunderstorm is roaring overhead.

"Ideally during a thunderstorm people seek shelter in a well-constructed building, staying away from windows, doors, and plumbing so that they're not at risk of being in contact with anything that can conduct electricity during the storm. Not everyone will have an opportunity to get to shelter, so ideally you find something that will keep you as safe as possible, so avoid water, metal, and tall objects. These could be natural objects like tall trees or things like poles, especially if they're connected to wires, and open areas so that you're not the tallest thing around."

For those who have the option of hiding in a car, that could be safe depending on what materials the car is made of.

"If you don't have shelter indoors, sometimes a car and a truck can be appropriate, but you kind of need to know what your vehicle is made of. If it's composite material which a lot of vehicles are now, those don't react well to lightning. If you have a metal frame around you, the car can act as a Faraday cage, so it's not the rubber tires, it's the actual structure around you that makes the difference."

"So don't fiddle with the radio, don't have your arms out of the windows, and keep yourself as small as possible in your vehicle, because if the windshield gets hit, you're still in trouble."

As well, people should remove any headphones they're wearing even if those aren't physically connected to a device.

"There's an additional suggestion to remove the earbud headphones that are connected by wires to whatever gadget you're using. Now with the Bluetooth wireless headphones we have, maybe a slightly better situation, but it's still distracting you, you're listening as opposed to paying attention to what's happening around you. So to increase your awareness, maybe put stuff away."

There are also a number of different ways that lightning strikes can injure people other than a direct hit.

"Lightning can injure people in a number of ways, so it's not just the direct strikes that we're concerned with, it's actually quite rare. According to our statistics, the worst or the most frequent scenarios are ground currents - lightning hits the ground and then travels along the surface. A lot of people don't know that, so if you're near where lightning strikes, you are at risk."

"Side flash is another thing where if you have, say lightning hitting a tree, it may go all the way down. It may, on the other hand, stop at some point and go sideways, so never take shelter under a tree. Avoid metal because metal conducts electricity really well. So the storm might seem like it's far away, but if you're near a very long fence, there's nothing stopping that electrical charge from traveling along the wires of that fence or the metal structure of that fence to a pretty large distance."