Using industry-leading detection accuracy and unparalleled data history dating back more than 30 years, Vaisala has identified the most significant year-over-year decrease in lightning activity across the US since 1989.
In its recently-released 2020 Annual Lightning Report, Vaisala reveals that 2020 saw a total of 170,549,822 cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning events in the continental US, compared to 222,988,888 in 2019, a decrease of 52.4 million events.
Vaisala’s National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) has provided lightning detection coverage of the continental US longer than any other system. It delivers proven performance in detecting total lightning (both cloud-to-ground and in-cloud lightning), providing valuable data with unmatched accuracy for many public and private applications on both local and national levels.
“Vaisala pioneered continental-level lightning detection and leveraged 31 years of comprehensive historic lightning data to determine the incredible lightning drought last year, which was caused by an anomalously strong area of high pressure over traditionally lightning-prone regions,” said Ryan Said, lightning scientist at Vaisala.
“This history and the accuracy of our data allows us to reliably track trends and changes over time, ensuring we can provide both current reporting as well as trustworthy long-term analysis and interpretation.”