I tend to use https://www.lightningmaps.org because it is less visually noisy but I believe it is ultimately sourced from Blitzortung. I unplug my computer whenever there is lightning nearby.
Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
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Re: Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
#52I remember looking at this for the first time many years ago. I don't remember the exact steps that caused the circumstance to appear but I left the page open with the sound on. For quite some time after that I spent ages trying to figure out where the intermittent clicking sound was coming from. It drove me nuts. I felt very silly when I figured it out.
Would be cool to get a system and contribute. I find it crazy just how far some of the sensors are triggered.
Re: Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
#53Which ones have current flowing up from the ground versus down from the sky?
Re: Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
#54I wonder if anyone is using this as a source of entropy
It's likely relatively poor entropy.
https://www.science.org/content/article/lightning-has-long-d...
> SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA--The jury may still be out on whether lightning can strike the same place twice, but a new study gives the public another riddle to ponder: Can distant lightning bolts talk to each other? Evidence gathered from space shuttle recordings indicates that, rather than being randomly distributed, lightning flashes appear to be coordinated, even when they're far apart.
> Coordinated lightning behavior has been observed before, but only over short distances. Over the past 30 years, however, astronauts who watched thunderstorms from space reported believing that lightning strikes influence each other even when hundreds of kilometers apart, a phenomenon astronaut Edward Gibson called "sympathetic lightning bolts."
... and knowing the name for that now... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lightning_phenomena#
> Sympathetic lightning is the tendency of lightning to be loosely coordinated across long distances. Discharges can appear in clusters when viewed from space.[22][23][24]
Which leads to https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/GL009i01... and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S13646...
> From observation of lightning activity in severe storms with VHF radar the echoes from lightning discharges following one another within a time interval typical for a multistroke cloud-to-ground flash and spaced in range by several km are designated "associated discharges". The hypothesis of association between lightning flashes is tested against an alternative hypothesis of independence between them by using methods of statistical analysis for series of events. The hypothesis of independence is rejected at a level of significance of 5%. The probability for lightning flashes in multicell storms to be associated increases when time intervals between flashes are very short (<100 ms for the investigated storm).
Re: Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
#55For my kids, I have a virtual light switch in HomeKit called "Shower Is Safe". It's pinned to the top of the Home app. I use the Home Assistant integration to fetch this data and run some calculations on the past few minutes of lightning activity. Since the API returns lightning strike time and bearing from a given location, I can (in combination with wind direction) determine if the lightning is approaching or reced…
I don't want to frighten your family more, but shower NEVER is safe. Unlike lightning, slips and falls in the bathroom are quite common and sometimes result in death or lifelong injury.
Re: Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
#56[flagged]
Re: Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
#57What is that South American flag? Is it a map of South American nations, like the globe for the “Overview Map”?
I can recognize all other flags: EU, Australia, US (sorry Canada), Hong Kong, African Union, but not South America.
Hong Kong flag for Asia is why the flags caught my attention :)
Re: Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
#58For my kids, I have a virtual light switch in HomeKit called "Shower Is Safe". It's pinned to the top of the Home app. I use the Home Assistant integration to fetch this data and run some calculations on the past few minutes of lightning activity. Since the API returns lightning strike time and bearing from a given location, I can (in combination with wind direction) determine if the lightning is approaching or reced…
I don't want to frighten your family more, but shower NEVER is safe. Unlike lightning, slips and falls in the bathroom are quite common and sometimes result in death or lifelong injury.
Smaller bathroom will resolve this to avoid total fall to the ground.
Re: Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nice, what are the odds though? I searched around but couldn’t find any hard stats. Is this like nuclear bunker in my basement type of precaution?
Yes, it's exceedingly rare. But it's one of those "avoiding this activity for an hour could prevent you from dying painfully" things, so we don't shower/bathe/wash dishes when there's lightning.
As a Floridian not far from a lightning belt world capital, I also never shower (or wash) when lightning is expected. I remember seeing a photograph of a car with a giant orifice where the hood and window were. Extremely rare, faraday and all, but I've seen some strikes that dignify paranoia and know several people who've lost family to lightning.
I'm more primitive in my safety measures, but that's a pretty cool system you have.
Edit: I also unplug my valuable electronics too, if I'm able. And yes, I've seen all sorts of stuff toasted, from cows to computers.
Re: Blitzortung – real time lightning strikes around the world
#60For my kids, I have a virtual light switch in HomeKit called "Shower Is Safe". It's pinned to the top of the Home app. I use the Home Assistant integration to fetch this data and run some calculations on the past few minutes of lightning activity. Since the API returns lightning strike time and bearing from a given location, I can (in combination with wind direction) determine if the lightning is approaching or reced…
Wait, why would showering in a lightning storm not be safe? Do you expect the lightning to discharge in the pipes of your house? How? Or is it that your children would be scared if the power goes out when they're showering? That I understand.
There’s no risk if your water supply lines are pex instead of copper