Vaisala US National Lightning Detection Network We recently published our annual lightning report. This annual analysis provides detailed statistics, highlights, and in-depth research across the country’s annual lightning events.
Specifics in the report include the states with the highest lightning density and the cities with the most lightning strikes.
In 2022, more than 198 million lightning events will be detected across the United States. Lightning is one of the most extreme weather phenomena, but it is also one that will never go away. Analyzing lightning helps researchers better understand the atmosphere and how it continues to change.
Texas is the state with the most lightning strikes, recording more than 27 million lightning strikes last year. Florida has the highest lightning density, averaging 109.84 lightning strikes per square kilometer last year.
A separate section of the annual report names the lightning capitals of each state and nation of the United States. State lightning capitals are the cities in each state that experienced the most lightning in the previous year.
Four Corners, Florida, has been named the Lightning Capital of the Country for 2022. The southern city had a lightning strike density of 474 per square kilometer last year, according to a report.
The legal little town of Bethune has been named the Lightning Capital of Colorado. According to a Vaisala report, the Colorado city 58 lightning strikes per hit square kilometers during the last recorded period. Bethune is located at an elevation of 4,258 feet in Kit Carson County in the eastern part of the state.
Colorado ranks 28th on the list for total number of lightning events in 2022. A total of 2,348,907 lightning strikes were recorded in the Centennial State last year. In the total lightning density column, Colorado ranks 33rd in the rankings with an average of 8.71 lightning strikes per square kilometer.
Lightning usually occurs in the summer when temperatures are hot and humidity is high. During the summer, the environment is prone to thunderstorms accompanied by lightning. That said, May 21st was the day with the highest number of lightning storms in the United States last year.
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