3 ms·
It's not the reality, it's just reflecting the coverage.
by hcarvalhoalves 12y ago
It's not the reality, it's just reflecting the coverage.
- mturmon 12y agoTrue, of course, but it's also worth remarking that there are huge spatial differences in lightning frequency due to the specific mechanisms causing thunderstorms. I live in the U.S., and you rarely see t-storms on the Pacific coast here because the nearby Pacific Ocean is cool (due, in turn, to cool water brought down by the clockwise-turning North Pacific Gyre). But t-storms are very common in the Midwest and South due to the presence of warm, moist air there.
- thekevan 12y agoWe get plenty of thunder here in the North East as well, even the occasional instance of thunder snow. Lightning is much more common in a majority of the US, excepting much of the lower west coast and southwest.
- mnw21cam 12y agoActually, the coverage in Europe is many many times better than the coverage in the US. The US actually gets that many more lightning strikes then Europe.
- personZ 12y agohttp://www.lightningmaps.org/extra/coverage?lang=en http://www.lightningmaps.org/extra/coverage?lang=en As mentioned by mnw, coverage is actually pretty sparse in North America (at least relative to Europe, presumably because it's a German project?). The continent simply has environments that are ideal for severe thunderstorms. I imagine the other continents are grossly underrepresented.