Earth Networks has released its 2019 Mid-Year Lightning Report, which has identified over 47 million strikes detected in the continental US during the first half of the year by the company’s Total Lightning Network. The number represents an 8% decrease from the first half of 2018. Over 8 million of these strikes were cloud-to-ground, representing 17.1% of all lightning activity.
This past spring proved to be a damaging season through the Midwest and into Pennsylvania with a high volume of intense tornados. These storms included a heavy prevalence of lightning and contributed significantly to the over 20,000 Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts that were issued throughout the country. These proprietary alerts from Earth Networks track the most severe storms and lightning activity that have proven to act as a precursor to damaging weather including tornados, hail, and high winds.
The research also concluded several additional findings, including:
- Texas led all states with nearly 10.7 million strikes. Pecos County and Brewster County in Texas were the two counties with the most lightning in the country.
- Florida ranked as the state with the sixth most number of strikes. This was surprising for the state traditionally known as the lightning capital of the world.
- Oklahoma represented the state with the highest flash density, a measure of lightning per square mile.
“Thus far, 2019 has been a very active lightning season in the U.S., especially in the western half of the country and the Mid-Atlantic region,” said Michael Stock, Principal Lightning Scientist at Earth Networks. “While the South has seen lower than normal lightning, we expect the lightning activity to increase throughout the country as we continue through the summer.”
Operating over 1,700 sensors across 100 countries, the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network is the most advanced lightning network in the world. Its ability to comprehensively monitor both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning enables the creation of faster severe weather alerts, lightning-derived radar alternatives and real-time storm visualization.
To learn more about the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, contact Earth Networks.
Download the 2019 Mid-Year Lightning Report.
