Real-time lightning map, worldwide • Hacker News Board

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#31

Post by mnw21cam » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:04 AM UTC

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #7

thekevan wrote: post #2

Europe: 1489 strikes Oceania: 28 strikes Asia: 0 strikes South America: 913 strikes North America: 15,826 strikes!!

It's not the reality, it's just reflecting the coverage.

Actually, the coverage in Europe is many many times better than the coverage in the US. The US actually gets that many more lightning strikes then Europe.

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#32

Post by nraynaud » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:30 AM UTC

Northern Texas is just being pounded right now.

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#33

Post by phreeza » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 11:15 AM UTC

Used this to find webcams of places with thunderstorms rolling in, and found this here in Switzerland [0], quite fun to watch when you skip through the history. Day started out lovely but now they are getting hammered.

[0] http://palacegstaad.roundshot.ch/

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#34

Post by danparsonson » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 11:34 AM UTC

BozeWolf wrote: post #25

late2part wrote: post #12

This is so cool!!

This is absolutely amazing indeed! I wonder if the maps of blitzortnung (please change the name! To blitztracker or something.) match with data from commercial/public weather stations like metox: http://meteox.com/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=loop1uur&lightning... Hard to compare as blitzortnung is realtime. Hmm.

re: the name - unsure if you realise or not, but 'blitzortung' is German for "lightning location (or locating)" :-)

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#35

Post by quarterto » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 11:40 AM UTC

Wow, the Alps appear to be going through the apocalypse.

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#36

Post by CapitalistCartr » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 11:54 AM UTC

thekevan wrote: post #2

Europe: 1489 strikes Oceania: 28 strikes Asia: 0 strikes South America: 913 strikes North America: 15,826 strikes!!

Where I live in West Central Florida we get about 50 strikes per square mile per year, 1.5 million per year for the state. Lightning is common here during the rainy season.

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#37

Post by anonymfus » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 11:58 AM UTC

4mnt wrote: post #9

wyred wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess they have devices that detect light and sound. When the device detects a flash, it will start a timer and wait for the sound, which ends the timer. Then based on the speed of sound, they can estimate the distance of the strike. With many of these devices all over the place recording the data, using math, they can pinpoint the location of where the strike was.

No sound, as it does not travel far enough and is easily disrupted by any other sounds in the area of the detector. I think it is just waiting for input of an electro-magnetical wave, then timestamps it and sends it to the server. The server can calculate the position with just the difference in arrival time to each station, and the position of those stations.

There is a project to detect lightnings over Moscow with cheap sound-only detectors on the roofs of skyscrapers, they managed to restore ever shapes of lightings in 3D with it:

http://habrahabr.ru/post/211701/ (description of their technology in Russian)

http://flashlook.ru/ (official site, no realtime translation now because of lack of funding, there are some prerecorded lightings)

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#38

Post by BozeWolf » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 12:09 PM UTC

danparsonson wrote: post #34

BozeWolf wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is absolutely amazing indeed! I wonder if the maps of blitzortnung (please change the name! To blitztracker or something.) match with data from commercial/public weather stations like metox: http://meteox.com/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=loop1uur&lightning... Hard to compare as blitzortnung is realtime. Hmm.

re: the name - unsure if you realise or not, but 'blitzortung' is German for "lightning location (or locating)" :-)

Yes, I realise that. I live in the Netherlands; which means I have had german language lessons at secondary school.

I came up with blitztracker because everybody knows the word blitz and the word tracker. Easier to write and still keeps the german touch :-)

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#39

Post by js2 » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 12:21 PM UTC

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #36

thekevan wrote: post #2

Europe: 1489 strikes Oceania: 28 strikes Asia: 0 strikes South America: 913 strikes North America: 15,826 strikes!!

Where I live in West Central Florida we get about 50 strikes per square mile per year, 1.5 million per year for the state. Lightning is common here during the rainy season.

Florida and North Carolina are #1 and #2 for number of lightning strikes in the US. -- grew up in FL, now live in NC.

Re: Real-time lightning map, worldwide

#40

Post by eitally » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 12:34 PM UTC

js2 wrote: post #39

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I live in West Central Florida we get about 50 strikes per square mile per year, 1.5 million per year for the state. Lightning is common here during the rainy season.

Florida and North Carolina are #1 and #2 for number of lightning strikes in the US. -- grew up in FL, now live in NC.

Cary resident here. In NC it's pretty much guaranteed that 90% of the days between mid-May and end-July will have a 30-40% chance of thunderstorms in the late afternoon to early evening. I like it, but it can make planning outdoor activities a bit tricky.