Fire season/time to track lighting

It's that time again. If you are interested in monitoring lightning caused fires, you can check Lightning & Thunderstorms - California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado for the California Blitzortung real time map.

http://www.lightningmaps.org is another site using the same data, but I don't know if the updates are as rapid. It does, however, have Google Earth imagery, roads, and cities for easier storm location.

I have a Blitzortung Red station here at home and contribute to the site.

Right now (1Pm wed 25 May 2015) there is some activity in the Sierra and it looks like maybe the San Joaquin Valley too.

Thanks, SLOweather!

SLOweather said:

It's that time again. If you are interested in monitoring lightning caused fires, you can check Lightning & Thunderstorms - California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado for the California Blitzortung real time map.

Real-Time Lightning Map :: LightningMaps.org is another site using the same data, but I don't know if the updates are as rapid. It does, however, have Google Earth imagery, roads, and cities for easier storm location.

I have a Blitzortung Red station here at home and contribute to the site.

Right now (1Pm wed 25 May 2015) there is some activity in the Sierra and it looks like maybe the San Joaquin Valley too.

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I just wanted to say thank you for contributing your data to this site. Its people like you that keep the site going.
I live here in Tampa FL the lightning capital of the US and use this site all the time !
Tim

Ironically, the areas most affected by lightning fires are areas where this information is not available. The entire east side of the Sierra Nevada from Carson Pass south to Tehachapi has no sensors in the field and therefore every lightning strike that hits fails to show on the map. I had forgotten this over the winter after initially being excited finding this site last year. The first storm of the spring with some lightning hit last week and I once again said, "Oh Boy, let's bring up that lightning strike website." Then I said "Oh Fudge, the strikes in my area don't show up at all."

That's interesting, ExSmokey. On the main Blitzortung.or map I regularly see stations detecting lightning 1000 miles away or more. Perhaps the Sierra acts as a shield. I know there are stations in Virginia City and Minden Nevada.

On the main North America map, Lightning & Thunderstorms - USA, Canada, United States of America, make sure that, at the bottom of the left menu, Strikes and Detectors are highlighted, and below that it says Connected. Then you will see each detected strike plotted, and lines from each the detectors used to calculate the location tothat spot. It's pretty cool.

Here's the list of all North American stations.

Lightning & Thunderstorms - Station and User List

OTOH, these are GPS time base Time Of Arrival stations and it takes several receivers for the servers to locate a strike. One station can't do it alone.

If you are interested, you and anyone else interested are certainly encouraged to add a station to the network. See Lightning & Thunderstorms - World Map for details. Also Blitzortung.

Chris

SLOweather said:

That's interesting, ExSmokey. On the main Blitzortung.or map I regularly see stations detecting lightning 1000 miles away or more. Perhaps the Sierra acts as a shield. I know there are stations in Virginia City and Minden Nevada.

On the main North America map, Lightning & Thunderstorms - USA, Canada, United States of America, make sure that, at the bottom of the left menu, Strikes and Detectors are highlighted, and below that it says Connected. Then you will see each detected strike plotted, and lines from each the detectors used to calculate the location tothat spot. It's pretty cool.

Here's the list of all North American stations.

Lightning & Thunderstorms - Station and User List

OTOH, these are GPS time base Time Of Arrival stations and it takes several receivers for the servers to locate a strike. One station can't do it alone.

If you are interested, you and anyone else interested are certainly encouraged to add a station to the network. See Lightning & Thunderstorms - World Map for details. Also Blitzortung.

Chris

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This site and the lack of coverage in the eastern Sierra has been on topic of conversation among hams in both Mono and Inyo Counties. The Sierra Nevada blocks coverage from the west, the White Mountain-Inyo Mountains from the east and the Sweetwater Range from the north. I don't recall seeing much being shown on the western slope of the Sierra either. I didn't notice any stations located in the southern Central Valley either. In any case the coverage has a huge gap in the area I live in.

One factor that people often don't take into consideration is the depth of the Owens Valley. The High Sierra eastern escarpment consists of several peaks 14,0000 feet in elevation and on the other side White Mountain peak, the highest peak in the White Mountain Mountains being a couple of hundred feet lower than Mt. Whitney. A station is needed down in that hole and another somewhere in Mono County.

It would be beneficial if the research facility south of White Mountain Peak, Barcroft lab, at about 12,500 feet had a sensor. Lots of Great Basin and eastern Sierra coverage would result. I've had some fun with 2m/70cm from near there, including kerchunking a Toiyabe NF repeater on top of Mt. Charleston, this while I was still working for the Inyo NF and using my 5 watt handheld BK radio.