The role fire plays in an ecosystem is dependent on the simultaneous occurrence of an ignition source, sufficient fuel to carry the fire, and weather conditions conducive for burning. Understanding the variation in lightning strike distributions provides insight into the role of fire in different bioregions of the state and aids in the prediction of wildland fire occurrence. Weather patterns associated with lightning included strengthened high pressure cells stationed over the western United States that deploy moist monsoonlike air masses and promote rising motions, especially over mountain features.

Strike polarity varied by month, and mean peak positive current, mean peak negative current, and number of return strokes per strike varied by bioregion. The number of strikes increased with elevation. Although there were significant differences in the number and density of strikes among bioregions, the annual, monthly, and hourly patterns were similar. We analyzed 16 years of lightning strike data obtained from the National Lightning Detection Network to determine how the distribution of lightning strikes was affected by geography, topography, and large-scale weather patterns. Ariel, Mississippi was third at 974 strikes per square mile.The temporal and spatial distribution of lightning strikes varies across California and has a differential effect on lightning fire ignitions. Greensburg, Louisiana came in second at just over 1,000 lightning strikes per square mile. Nationally, the community known as Four Corners, Florida - situated about two miles west of Disney's Animal Kingdom resort near the Disney World resort area - had the greatest lightning density of any neighborhood, registering over 1,200 lightning strikes per square mile! Vaisala also compiled which city was the 'lightning capital' of each state for 2022. Oregon and Washington essentially tied for the next two lowest spots at 2.5 lightning strikes every square mile. LIGHTNING SAFETY: WHEN THUNDER ROARS, EVEN TAKING OUT THE TRASH CAN TURN DEADLYįrigid Alaska averaged only 0.18 lightning strikes per square mile – or put the other way, one lightning strike every 5.5 square miles in 2022. Unlike the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean that fuel thunderstorms much of the year, the Pacific Ocean is considerably cooler along the West Coast, tempering the large difference in temperatures needed to trigger thunderstorms. On the other hand, the Pacific Coastal states took up the bottom spots, only interrupted by Maine at No. But it's a big drop from 2021 when the state was hit with 41 million strikes. Texas once again was the state with the most lightning strikes recorded at just under 27.7 million strikes - a consistent top ranking due to its size and prime geographic location for frequent and severe thunderstorms. In the U.S., nearly 200 million lightning strikes (198.2 million) were detected by Vaisala, the highest count since 2019 and a jump from around 194 million last year.Ģ021 LIGHTNING REPORT: US STRUCK BY 194 MILLION BOLTS OF LIGHTNING Texas is no Tonga, but it gets a lot of lightning too During Tonga's volcanic eruption, sensors detected 400,000 lightning strikes over a six-hour period including more than 25,500 lightning strikes in just 5 minutes.ĭuring the peak of the eruption, half of all global lightning was concentrated around the volcano's crater, becoming the greatest concentration of lightning strikes ever recorded, according to Vaisala. Yet it was only a precursor to the Earth-shaking event that would occur the next day when a cataclysmic eruption sent shock waves and a tsunami around the world. TONGA VOLCANIC ERUPTION TRIGGERED 50-FOOT TSUNAMI WAVES, AT LEAST 3 DEAD

(NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens using GOES imagery courtesy of NOAA and NESDIS) Crescent-shaped bow shock waves and numerous lightning strikes are also visible. The GOES-17 satellite captured images of an umbrella cloud generated by the underwater eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on Jan.

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