Locate exactly where lightning strikes occur with this live map
With Blitzortung.org, you can watch a live map that pinpoints exactly where a lightning strike has occurred.
The Philadelphia area has been hit hard by thunderstorms, and it looks like that trend will continue over the next few days.
As dangerous as lightning is, it always seems to attract people's attention. We stand in awe watching the dazzling bolts slash through the sky, wondering where the strikes hit. Now, with Blitzortung.org, you don't have to wonder anymore. You can watch a real-time map that pinpoints where a lightning strike has occurred. The map displays locations going back two hours with new strikes displayed as white expanding circles.
How does it work? From the website:
"Blitzortung.org" is a lightning detection network for the location of electromagnetic discharges in the atmosphere (lightning discharges) based on the time of arrival (TOA) and time of group arrival (TOGA) method. It consists of several lightning receivers and one central processing server. The stations transmit their data in short time intervals over the Internet to our server. Every data sentence contains the precise time of arrival of the received lightning discharge impulse ("sferic") and the exact geographic position of the receiver. With this information from all stations the exact positions of the discharges are computed.
Blitzortung.org also gives you the opportunity to contribute to their live lightning feed. You can purchase your own receptor and set up a lightning station in your own home.
Lightning is the second leading cause of weather-related fatalities, surpassed only by flooding. The electrostatic bolts claim about 51 lives per year in the U.S. Twelve deaths have been attributed to lightning so far this year.