How do meteorologists determine the number of lightning strikes during a thunderstorm?
Meteorologists can determine the number of lightning strikes during a thunderstorm from information from the “Canadian Lightning Detection Network”. The network consists of 81 state of the art lightning detectors. These sensors can accurately detect lightning strikes to within 500 metres and are capable of detecting more than 90% of all lightning strikes. Depending on the type of detector the forecaster can identify cloud to cloud lightning, which suggests a developing thunderstorm, or cloud to ground lightning, which is important for personal safety, property damage and the ignition of forest fires, if certain conditions are met. The system registers how many strikes occur and can be set for different time segments – for example it can be set for every 15 minutes or over a longer period of time, like a 24-hour period. There are other provincial agencies which have their own lightning detection networks such as the ministries of natural resources for Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and
Meteorologists can determine the number of lightning strikes during a thunderstorm using information from lightning detection networks. The Weather Network operates its own lightning detection network in Canada, using information from dozens of lightning sensors across Canada and the northern United States. These sensors can accurately detect lightning strikes to within 250 metres and are capable of detecting more than 95% of all lightning strikes. The Weather Networks lightning detection network can identify cloud to cloud lightning (which suggests a developing thunderstorm) and cloud to ground lightning (which is important for personal safety, property damage and the ignition of forest fires).
