WeatherwatchTic, tic, tic, tittic, titititic. Tune in to www.lightningmaps.org late on an August afternoon and this is the noise you hear. Each fresh dot on the map represents a lightning bolt, which zapped the ground just seconds ago. From the comfort of your armchair you can watch as a line of storms bubbles up over Hungary and Romania, and spot when Thor's hammer strikes Sweden. This mesmerising map was created in 2012 by German duo Egon Wanke and Tobias Volgnandt, who wanted to democratise access to lightning strike data, and have a bit of fun.
The live map relies on a global network of over 800 thunderstorm enthusiasts, who each maintain a lightning detector. The receivers detect the low frequency electromagnetic waves associated with lightning strikes, and upload data to a central server. By combining many readings the server is able to calculate the exact position of the lightning discharge based on the intensity of the measurements and the GPS locations of the receivers.
Strikes are colour coded to show how recent they are: from yellow with a red ring around for fresh bolts, fading to brown for old storms (at least two hours ago). Currently coverage is biased towards the largest clusters of lightning detectors, across Europe, USA and Australia, whilst Africa, Asia and South America remain devoid of detectors.
The map is mostly a curiosity: it is fascinating to see how many thunderstorms are simultaneously rumbling across Europe or the United States at any one time, and how frequently lightning occurs. But beware; Stuart Heritage thinks that too much map-monitoring is a sure sign of a mid-life crisis (Guardian, G2, page 5, 23 July, 2014).
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