Florida ... Lightning Capital Of The U.S.

[JonathanBelles]

I found this article and decided to post it.

Dr. Joe Sobel's Weather Blog

If you have ever been to Florida in the summer you know that thunderstorms occur almost every day. There are several reasons for that ... of course it's hot and humid and that leads to thunderstorm development. But perhaps the most important reason is all of the water surrounding the peninsula and the fact that sea breezes form on the Gulf Coast and on the Atlantic coast almost every day. As the Gulf of Mexico sea breeze moves eastward, it acts like a mini-cold front and thunderstorms develop along it. As the Atlantic sea breeze moves westward, it also acts like a mini cold front and thunderstorms develop along it. Those sea breezes can converge or meet in central Florida and when that happens the storms can really get nasty and last for a number of hours.

Of course for there to be thunderstorms, there must be thunder ... and when there is thunder, there must have been lightning and in Florida there is plenty of it almost every day from late May through September. How much lightning you ask? Well, that is a good question and I've got an answer for you. How many lightning strikes do you think there were yesterday from about 8 a.m. in the morning until about midnight? 100? 200? 1,000? 10,000? Enough, you say! Nope ... in fact yesterday and last night there were about 123,615 cloud to ground lightning strikes over the state of Florida. That doesn't include cloud to cloud lightning bolts, which can also be very common in these kinds of thunderstorms. Kind of mind-boggling, isn't it? And that's just one little part of the world ... think about how many lightning strikes there must be over the whole globe in a 24-hour time period. I have seen many different estimates of that number ... starting at about one million and ranging upwards of 10 million. The earth and the atmosphere are amazing places, and it's no wonder that their majesty and power can fascinate those of us who call ourselves weather weenies.

http://www.accuweather.com/mt-news-blog ... the_us.asp

[Ed Mahmoud]

I think earthquakes are the only natural disaster Florida doesn't have a higher than usual risk for.


Alligators, spiders, snakes, sharks. Hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning. And a tsunami if that show I saw about some volcano in the Cape Verdes blowing is correct.

[Aslkahuna]

FL may be the Lightning Capital of the US but AZ is the lightning PHOTOGRAPHY Capital of the US.
Steve

[JonathanBelles]

Thats because we are all running for cover and staying safe from lightning.

[Squarethecircle]

FL may be the Lightning Capital of the US but AZ is the lightning PHOTOGRAPHY Capital of the US.
Steve

AZ might as well be THE photography capital of the United States - AZ Highways only allows digital pictures 21 MP and up: Most of the photography is done on 4" by 5" + slides.



It would be interesting to gather statistics on this - how much comes from one type of storm, what are the relative frequencies geographically (I mean by like every 2 or 3 square miles, not regions), and how much energy transfer actually goes on when this is taking place.

[tropicana]

Interesting indeed!
Southern Ontario gets its fair share of thunderstorms and lightning in the warm weather months (April to September) though thunderstorms have occurred in every month of the year.
Just on Monday, a golfer was struck by lightning just a few miles north of Toronto while out on a golf course during an approaching thunderstorm. His clothes were smoking when paramedics arrived. He was lucky to survive.

-justin-

[Scott Patterson]

I think earthquakes are the only natural disaster Florida doesn't have a higher than usual risk for.

I'll bet they don't have avalanches.

[Aslkahuna]

Lightning Stats are available from Vaisala who runs the NLDN and in fact some research is being done at the University of Arizona involving lightning and monsoon thunderstorms.

Steve

[TornaDOH!]

fact789,

I had always been curious not only to observe the state of Florida from afar, but to go out there and experience it for myself. I am bringing this post back to life because I was able to head out there this past summer and it is an experience like none other. The weather essentially acted like the clock of god. Wake up to sunshine, afternoon thunderstorm, clears out in time for a nice sunset. Yes I went there for the beach and the warm weather, but the weather geek inside of me was enthralled with these unusual patterns.

[Patrick99]

On the vast majority of those days it's hotter than you-know-what until the thunderstorms roll in. That's the nice thing.....with a good FL summer thunderstorm, you can go from the hottest 90 degrees you ever felt right to a cool 75 as the storm's outflow rolls through ahead of it. This is our natural A/C!

A summer day in Florida when it *doesn't* rain is truly unbearable....that sun just goes and goes and goes.

[Florida1118]

On the vast majority of those days it's hotter than you-know-what until the thunderstorms roll in. That's the nice thing.....with a good FL summer thunderstorm, you can go from the hottest 90 degrees you ever felt right to a cool 75 as the storm's outflow rolls through ahead of it. This is our natural A/C!

A summer day in Florida when it *doesn't* rain is truly unbearable....that sun just goes and goes and goes.

Ecspecially when they do rolling blackouts and the power iso out for an hour or so. Thats horrible, and the humidity doesnt help. But, you gotta love Florida, its nickname is "The Sunshine State" for a reason. But back to the topic at hand, I think its nice to look at the lighting at night and see all the strikes off in the distance...which some people think is "heat lightning".

[Texas2Florida]

On the vast majority of those days it's hotter than you-know-what until the thunderstorms roll in. That's the nice thing.....with a good FL summer thunderstorm, you can go from the hottest 90 degrees you ever felt right to a cool 75 as the storm's outflow rolls through ahead of it. This is our natural A/C!

A summer day in Florida when it *doesn't* rain is truly unbearable....that sun just goes and goes and goes.

Ecspecially when they do rolling blackouts and the power iso out for an hour or so. Thats horrible, and the humidity doesnt help. But, you gotta love Florida, its nickname is "The Sunshine State" for a reason. But back to the topic at hand, I think its nice to look at the lighting at night and see all the strikes off in the distance...which some people think is "heat lightning".

Oh I have not heard that term in ages, since I was a little kid, my mom explaining that the lightning way far off was "heat lightning" and was nothing to worry about..