Today's Lightning Detections                                                                                                  


The BellmereWeather lightning strike map for South East Queensland is updated every minute and displays a near real-time map of where lightning strikes are occurring in Eastern Australia. Lightning activity in South East Queensland is generally at its greatest from October to March.
An animated version of the lightning strike map is available here. (Requires Java)
(See below for an explanation of the strike types shown on the map.)


Latest Detected Lightning Strike
Last Strike Bearing Distance Strike Type
18:48 247.4° (True) 617Km -IC



Today's History
Total Strikes Total Noise Close Strikes (Within 50Km) Total +CG Total -CG Total +IC Total -IC
375 76 1 48  -  12.80% 18  -  4.80% 84  -  22.40% 225  -  60.00%



Current Storms
Storm ID Detected Bearing Distance Last Activity Intensity Trend Current Strike Rate Peak
Strike Rate		 Total Strikes +CG -CG +IC -IC
No Storms Have Been Detected Within 600Km of Bellmere / Caboolture

Live Lightning Map      (Click here for an animated version)

Live map of lightning strikes. Updates every 1 minute. Click here for an animated version of the map.

Lightning Key:


Strike
 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.
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.
+ CG



A positively charged cloud to ground strike of lightning. A positive cloud to ground strike usually has a long continuing current and are though 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
-CG



 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
+IC / -IC

 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