NLDN Detects 10 Millionth Cloud-to-ground Stroke for 2019

On Sunday, May 12, Vaisala’s U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) detected its 10 millionth cloud-to-ground stroke for the year. NLDN has detected an average of 78 million cloud-to-ground strokes per year over the last decade over the U.S., adjacent waters, Mexico, and southern Canada. 

A cloud-to-ground flash has one or more return strokes. Event number 10 million reported on May 12 is an individual stroke detected within a cloud-to-ground flash. Over the past years, 10 million cloud-to-ground strokes have been reached as early as April 22 in 2017 and as late as May 21 in 2010.  NLDN has covered the entire United States since 1989, and is owned and operated by Vaisala.

Cloud-to-ground stroke number 10 million occurred in rural Lowndes County, Alabama as follows:
Date (UTC), Time (UTC), Latitude, Longitude
2019-05-12 11:59:29.901 31.9953 -86.8188

Here’s a link to the Google Map of the location.

Vaisala is a leader in lightning detection. With NLDN in the United States and Global Lightning Dataset (GLD360), which tracks lightning worldwide, we are able to distinguish between both cloud-to-ground and cloud lightning events globally – even over the most remote parts of the ocean. Lightning data is vital for many professionals: meteorologists in storm prediction, electric utilities where reliability is essential, business owners where weather impacts safety or productivity, and organizations like the Forest Service to understand where lightning may have started a fire in a remote location.