Zeus is always angry at someone
August 29, 2020 1:42 PM Subscribe
The loop I saw of the lightning strikes across California that set off all the wildfires was actually a bit horrifying to watch. You thought it was over, but no there's another wave going over a place that hadn't been touched yet. Man.
Dry lightning is a real bitch in the American West.
posted by hippybear at 2:27 PM on August 29, 2020
Dry lightning is a real bitch in the American West.
posted by hippybear at 2:27 PM on August 29, 2020
Perfect timing. It's not raining, but there are thunderstorms all around me right now. I can see the flashes in the distance, and two seconds later they appear on the map. This is amazing.
posted by fuzz at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by fuzz at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2020 [6 favorites]
And wow, central Arkansas is getting pummeled right now. Remnants of Laura traveling inland?
posted by hippybear at 2:39 PM on August 29, 2020
posted by hippybear at 2:39 PM on August 29, 2020
No, Laura remnants passed out of Arkansas yesterday or the day before. The days are blending together lately so I can't be more specific. :p
posted by wierdo at 2:47 PM on August 29, 2020
posted by wierdo at 2:47 PM on August 29, 2020
Yes, it would be cool to overlay this on satellite images or other weather maps to see what the lightning is related to. Meteorologist Dakota Smith posts all kinds of weather imagery on Twitter, some of which shows actual lightning activity, like this and this.
posted by PhineasGage at 2:48 PM on August 29, 2020
posted by PhineasGage at 2:48 PM on August 29, 2020
The reason you rarely see lightning overlays except on paid apps and TV is that the commercial lightning detection networks have onerous licensing terms that disallow the public dissemination of their data in anything that could be considered real time unless you pay them gobs of money for the privilege. That's because their primary revenue stream is from organizations running outdoor events, utility companies, and other users that require real time data so they can take immediate action. (That's how it was 10 years ago when I had reason to be relatively familiar with the available products, anyway)
If there is now a source of crowdsourced open lightning data in near real time, that's freaking fantastic. Radar and satellite imagery are available freely from NWS, so it wouldn't be an enormous project to mash that up with data from Blotzortung receivers and plot it on a web map if someone were interested.
If I find myself with time and motivation and nobody beats me to it (the combination of all three are rather unlikely), I might even do it myself. That kind of visualization used to be right up my alley back when ka-map! was the new thing and MapServer was still young.
posted by wierdo at 3:06 PM on August 29, 2020 [4 favorites]
If there is now a source of crowdsourced open lightning data in near real time, that's freaking fantastic. Radar and satellite imagery are available freely from NWS, so it wouldn't be an enormous project to mash that up with data from Blotzortung receivers and plot it on a web map if someone were interested.
If I find myself with time and motivation and nobody beats me to it (the combination of all three are rather unlikely), I might even do it myself. That kind of visualization used to be right up my alley back when ka-map! was the new thing and MapServer was still young.
posted by wierdo at 3:06 PM on August 29, 2020 [4 favorites]
I use the WeatherBug app, and it has a realtime lightning mapper built in. It’s pretty cool when you know a front’s rolling in and you can watch the lightning strikes marching toward you.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:32 PM on August 29, 2020
posted by Thorzdad at 3:32 PM on August 29, 2020
If you check the settings in the 'gear' icon, you'll see there are already options to overlay satellite imagery and radar data. It says radar is for the USA only, but the coverage extends a little bit into Canada as well. Also if you zoom in enough, it will show you a circle around each strike that is expanding at the speed of sound, to show where the thunder will be heard right now. It's often pretty accurate!
This has been my go-to lightning and rain map for a few years now, and it's fantastic. During storms, it seems to mainly register the cloud-to-ground strikes with the cloud-to-cloud stuff being missed. But that's OK, it still gives a good idea of when and where it's about to get loud.
posted by FishBike at 3:33 PM on August 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
This has been my go-to lightning and rain map for a few years now, and it's fantastic. During storms, it seems to mainly register the cloud-to-ground strikes with the cloud-to-cloud stuff being missed. But that's OK, it still gives a good idea of when and where it's about to get loud.
posted by FishBike at 3:33 PM on August 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
I was impressed by the 'speed of sound' display, a circle enlarging around each lightning strike when zoomed in. Sure enough, quite accurate.
posted by hank at 5:57 PM on August 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by hank at 5:57 PM on August 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
don't know about the app or even if there is one (there probably is), but windy.com has lightning as an optional overlay on its weather radar view. zoom in close enough and it includes the expanding soundwave circle. it even has the option of playing a little click for each strike, which has prompted me to fantasize a drum machine driven by real-time lightning strike data.
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:04 PM on August 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:04 PM on August 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
Ha! I check this site quite often, b-cause I love thunderstorms!
posted by sundrop at 7:18 PM on August 29, 2020
posted by sundrop at 7:18 PM on August 29, 2020
Yeah, I discovered this a couple of months ago, and now when I start hearing thunder I turn it on and watch the strikes. It's kinda cool to see a strike, watch the ring of thunder, and then hear the noise.
A few weeks ago, while watching the site, I actually had a tree (greengage plum) in my backyard struck by lightning while I was watching the site. Deafening in real life, and actually got a bit of a shock from the ground currents as I was in the basement at the time. Fun times.
posted by Blackanvil at 7:33 PM on August 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
A few weeks ago, while watching the site, I actually had a tree (greengage plum) in my backyard struck by lightning while I was watching the site. Deafening in real life, and actually got a bit of a shock from the ground currents as I was in the basement at the time. Fun times.
posted by Blackanvil at 7:33 PM on August 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
Damn, western Italy is going through it right now
posted by Kitchen Witch at 8:09 PM on August 29, 2020
posted by Kitchen Witch at 8:09 PM on August 29, 2020
I use this all the time. I'm in a 16th floor apartment and can watch lightning roll across Chicago while having the webpage open and watch the soundwaves approaching.
Interestingly, I can never really tell where the lightning is striking just from looking. Mostly it is much further away than it seems when it strikes.
There is something really cool about knowing what block of the city the lightning likely hit when it rattles your windows.
posted by srboisvert at 8:13 PM on August 29, 2020
Interestingly, I can never really tell where the lightning is striking just from looking. Mostly it is much further away than it seems when it strikes.
There is something really cool about knowing what block of the city the lightning likely hit when it rattles your windows.
posted by srboisvert at 8:13 PM on August 29, 2020
Yeah, Italy is getting hammered.
posted by Windopaene at 10:09 PM on August 29, 2020
posted by Windopaene at 10:09 PM on August 29, 2020
Someone put me onto this site a month ago, and when the hot weather broke a couple of weeks ago I was used it to follow the series of storms we had. I love thunderstorms; counting the time between lightning and thunder gives you the distance, but not the direction and it waqs great to be able to watch the storms build west of here and gradually approach, especially after a couple of sweltering days watching them build and disappear before they got here.
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:56 PM on August 29, 2020
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:56 PM on August 29, 2020
It's not so much anger as frustration; but I'm getting better at controlling my temper.
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 5:10 AM on August 30, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 5:10 AM on August 30, 2020 [12 favorites]
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(Also, why do maps like this show me a "grip and drag" icon but that never works? Google maps is the same way.)
posted by maxwelton at 2:18 PM on August 29, 2020