If there isn't much action happening on the Live Lighting and Storm Tracker, visit the seven day weather forecast charts or the Weather Forecast pages to see if any storm activity is forecast for the next few days.
The above lightning data is not imported from any third party and is generated by BellmereWeather's Boltek StormTracker lightning detector, which is mounted on the weather equipment mast. The StormTracker works by detecting the radio signals produced by lightning strikes and these are the same signals you can hear on an regular AM radio during a thunderstorm. StormTracker's direction-finding antenna provides direction information while storm distance is calculated from received signal strength. This data is then plotted onto the map above, together with the type of lightning strike and it's polarity. During intense local storm activity, radio signals from distant lightning strikes may be "drowned out" and may not be shown on the map.
Strike
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A lightning strike that has been detected by the lightning detector and has been calculated as a proper strike and not background noise. This can be any type of lightning with either a positive or negative charge.
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| Close Strike |
A strike of lightning, which has been calculated to being within a 50Km radius of Bellmere. This can be any type of lightning with either a positive or negative charge.
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+ CG
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A positively charged cloud to ground strike of lightning. A positive cloud to ground strike usually has a long continuing current and are thought to make up about 5% of all strikes globally (1). These strikes originally high in the anvil of the storm cloud and are typically six to ten time stronger than negatively charged lightning strikes (2) and the voltage difference for positive lightning is considerably higher, due to the tens of thousands of additional meters the strike must travel. These are considered the most dangerous strikes of lightning and are often the cause of fires and property destruction.
(1) - (2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning
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-CG
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A negativly charged cloud to ground strike of lightning. A negatively charged lightning originates from the middle or bottom of a storm cloud. Positively charged lightning can strike for many miles beyond the center of a storm, whereas negatively charged lightning tends to strike near the center of a storm. (1)
(1) http://www.eduplace.com/science/hmsc/3/f/cricket/cktcontent_3f133.shtml
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+IC / -IC
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A Intra-Cloud strike of lighting. Tese are the most common type of lightning, called intra cloud lightning, strikes between positive and negative areas in the same cloud. The bolt is not usually visible, but rather appears like a broad flash in the sky. Intra-cloud lightning is far more prevalent than cloud-to-ground lightning, and the mean peak currents in intra cloud lightning tend to be smaller. Intra cloud flashes that leave cloud base and approach ground, but do not reach ground, are called air discharges. Intra cloud lightning that leaves cloud top and heads upwards are sometimes referred to as cloud-to-ionosphere flashes. (1)
(1) http://www.weather-plus.net/LightningDetector.html
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