# Variation in lightning strike density across US
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 23, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693 "2017-06-23T16:46:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/1 "2017-06-23T16:46:40Z")
I ran across [this graphic](http://www.vaisala.com/VaisalaImages/Product%20and%20services/NLDN%20CG%20Flash%20Density%20Km%201997-2010.png) several years ago and I find it fascinating. The difference in lightning strike density across the country would probably be surprising to many people (especially ones that have not moved a lot).
I grew up in the deep south (medium orange area) and thunderstorms and window-shaking thunder were just normal. We had several pieces of electronics fried in our house. I remember one time we hosted some kids from the Los Angeles area at our house. During that time, some big thunderstorms with loud thunder came through and the visitors were definitely on edge. I just assumed they were exaggerating when they said they didn’t have that in California.
Now I live in an area that is colored green and I can definitely tell a difference. I have lived here about 10 years and have only heard one or two lightning strikes and thought “that was close.” I actually kind of miss it.
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### Author:  [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/2 "2017-06-23T16:51:30Z")
One thing I forgot to point out: notice the difference in density between the grey area and the light purple.
So a square mile in Tampa gets (on average) at least 140 times more lighting strikes than the same amount of ground in Los Angeles.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/3 "2017-06-23T17:00:59Z")
Living in the Pacific Northwest, I’m not surprised at all. We almost never (maybe once a year) get lightening. Everywhere else I lived had quite a bit. I miss it.
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### Author:  [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/4 "2017-06-23T19:52:08Z")
I didn’t realize there was such a huge difference, and I’ve lived all over.
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2017, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/5 "2017-06-23T21:13:05Z")
> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> Living in the Pacific Northwest, I’m not surprised at all. We almost never (maybe once a year) get lightening. Everywhere else I lived had quite a bit. I miss it.
And yet every time they do an exterior shot of the Seattle hospital on _Grey’s Anatomy_ when it’s raining (hard, not a drizzle) there’s lightning.
(BTW: The actual hospital used in is Northern Los Angeles. Also in the gray.)
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/6 "2017-06-23T21:59:46Z")
Fascinating. I spent my whole life in LA until a couple of years ago, and yeah, I had no appreciation for how frequent thunderstorms are in other parts of the country. I live in the DC area now, and it feels like we’ve got them all the time in the summer. But DC barely registers into the yellow on this map.
I’ve never been to Florida or any of the red/pink areas. Kind of hard for me to imagine, honestly.
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### Author:  [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2017, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/7 "2017-06-24T05:14:19Z")
> [@Hermitian](#):
>
> I ran across [this graphic](http://www.vaisala.com/VaisalaImages/Product%20and%20services/NLDN%20CG%20Flash%20Density%20Km%201997-2010.png) several years ago and I find it fascinating. The difference in lightning strike density across the country would probably be surprising to many people (especially ones that have not moved a lot).
>
> I grew up in the deep south (medium orange area) and thunderstorms and window-shaking thunder were just normal. We had several pieces of electronics fried in our house. I remember one time we hosted some kids from the Los Angeles area at our house. During that time, some big thunderstorms with loud thunder came through and the visitors were definitely on edge. I just assumed they were exaggerating when they said they didn’t have that in California.
>
> Now I live in an area that is colored green and I can definitely tell a difference. I have lived here about 10 years and have only heard one or two lightning strikes and thought “that was close.” I actually kind of miss it.
Neat map! Thanks.
See that yellow spot in Colorado? That’s where Pikes Peak is. Several years ago, a local, much-loved photographer was killed by lightning on Pikes Peak.
I’ve never actually had any electronics fried because of lightning, possibly because I try to turn my computer off during the bad storms.
Now compare that map to these, showing fatalities, both in raw numbers, and based on population.
[http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/stats/59-16\_State\_Ltg\_Fatality+Fatality\_Rate\_Maps.pdf](http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/stats/59-16_State_Ltg_Fatality+Fatality_Rate_Maps.pdf)
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/8 "2017-06-24T12:51:36Z")
I grew ukp in a green area, and my recollection is that lightening was just as frequent and intense as when I lived in red areas in later years. Now I live in orange, and lightning is not very frequent at all.
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### Author:  [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/9 "2017-06-24T13:08:13Z")
Mrs. Gap and I used to live north of Tampa Bay. Can positively confirm the lightning there is something to behold. We’re north of S.F. Bay now, and the lightning here is almost “soft”. You see a flash, and there’s a boom, but it’s not the sharp “crack” that happens in Florida. Damn, that shit will make you jump. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/10 "2017-06-24T13:17:30Z")
I was surprised that the Smokies were so low because it rained every one of the nearly dozen times I’ve spent more than one day there, but I guess only a couple of those were thunderstorms.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/11 "2017-06-24T13:49:05Z")
For some mysterious reason lightning strike incidence corresponds closely with the thunderstorm incidence. And for an equally mysterious reason thunderstorm incidence corresponds with the presence of warm moist air. I ain’t no professional weatherologist but I’m guessing the drier and colder regions of the country get hit by lightning less often than the rest of it.
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2017, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/12 "2017-06-25T03:45:38Z")
> [@Hermitian](#):
>
> I remember one time we hosted some kids from the Los Angeles area at our house. During that time, some big thunderstorms with loud thunder came through and the visitors were definitely on edge. I just assumed they were exaggerating when they said they didn’t have that in California.
I lived in the SF area for a some years and and I can remember at most only one thundershower a year in the summer.
In that time there were also some earthquakes. After I moved back to Chicago, for a few years the first low rumbles of a thunderstorm did unsettle me because it sounded like the beginning of an earthquake. That was probably a factor in your visitors’ reaction.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2017, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/13 "2017-06-25T05:01:57Z")
I grew up in the pink area in SE Florida. I also lived in Tampa. I’ve lived in Las Vegas for 21 years now, and I still miss the rain and lightning and thunder. Especially the (daily) rain.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/variation-in-lightning-strike-density-across-us/789693/14 "2017-06-25T13:15:51Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> For some mysterious reason lightning strike incidence corresponds closely with the thunderstorm incidence. And for an equally mysterious reason thunderstorm incidence corresponds with the presence of warm moist air. I ain’t no professional weatherologist but I’m guessing the drier and colder regions of the country get hit by lightning less often than the rest of it.
But dry and cold are independent matters. Take Eastern Oregon vs. Western Oregon and look at the OP’s map.
Western Oregon is a lot wetter than Eastern Oregon. A _lot_. While Eastern Oregon can get hotter at times than Western Oregon, it’s not so simple. E.g., the coolest overnight lows in the state in the summer are typically in Eastern Oregon (or Southern Oregon, where the blue bulges west in the map). E.g., Baker was 37F the other morning, one of the coldest places in the state. The last few times I drove thru there I turned on the heat despite being summer and middle of the day.
But Eastern Oregon gets far more lightning that Western Oregon. It’s common in the summer in the late evenings. These thunderstorms produce little to no rain that reaches the ground. The humidity is generally still lower than Western Oregon at the same time.
The elevation, rough terrain and daily wide heat-cool cycle play an important role.
Lightning is more common in mountains than nearby flat areas but you certainly wouldn’t conclude that Florida is highly mountainous based on the map.