Hi, its Virtual Stormchaser here, I am not sure if this is in the right place, but here goes. Why is it all the various UK and European Lightning maps never seem to back each other up? you know what I mean, the lightning strikes recorded by the various trackers never seem to concur location or if some of the strikes actually happened, some times even one map will be tracking 2 storms, another tracking 5 storms and another will be saying there are NO STORMS? why do they differ so much and which one is the most reliable? unfortunately I have not yet had a local storm to check against. Any help/idea would be appreciated Regards VS

This is a topic we've covered loads. But to answer quickly,

• Strikes are picked up by radio waves, so the sensitivity varies hourly, depending on atmospherics.
• Each individual station is unable to triangulate, so they can get direction but not distance.
• Some owners calibrate, some do not
• Sites that try to trianulate have to work with data from non calibrated stations.
• Most owners put the antenna in the loft

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Hello all.
Grand you are correct at your post ,but the radiofrequency from the lightning strikes is VLF usually down from 100 KHZ ,my lightning radar system is tuning at 10 KHZ ,and my antenna is in the house ,but i received strikes from USA and until India and little more.

forecast

I beleive no problem if the antenna is in the loft ,because is VLF frequency,and the same is and for Boltek is VLF receiver.

Friendly
Dimitris

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Interesting stuff!

Ever the hopeless optimist, I always tend to stick with the lightning map that shows the most strikes that are most likely to come my way regardless of the system accuracy. It invariable leads to disappointment unfortunately! lol!

LOL just found this post after asking the same question a couple of times..

I agree with Weather1967.... I'll admit I have no knowledge of the Boltek system, (I wish I could afford to get one ), but my Hobby-Boards lightning detector is in my loft, fixed along one the sloping rafters.

The manufacturers say it will pick up strikes over 50 miles away, but I've found that strikes even 100 miles away will show up as an increased count, so being in a loft, earthed to the houshold water pipes, doesn't seem to adversely affect the detection.

As to lightning maps, I believe in the Blitzortung and Strikestar maps rather than individual detector maps.

Daryll.

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Morning, that helps. Now how many Lightning Strikes/Flashes do you need to have to constitute a storm? What is measured to decide weather the event is a Thunderstorm or a Thundery Shower/Thundery Rain Etc? We had Lightning overnight in Leicester but I could not find a map with a Storm to match? Thanks again; Virtual StormChaser!!

Best thing to do to try and establish where storms are is to use these sites:-

Lightning observations

Blitzortung.org - Strikes

And then match the strikes with the rainfall,which will give you a pretty good idea of the location.

Meteox.com - Weather - European rainfall radar

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Exactly right TG, which is why we carry all of the services we do on the Stormtracker page. It should be noted that meteocentre does not claim to give an exact location, but rathre relies on placing the colour cross in quadrant.

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You'll also get differences between the likes of Blitzortung and Strike Star EU because of the accuracy applied to the strike triangulation.
Blitz will normally show more strikes than Strike Star EU because, as I understand it, Blitz will confirm a strike on two stations triangulating where as in areas of good coverage Strike Star EU will rely on 3 or more stations confirming the strike.
There is also an error radius that Strike Star uses, this is normally no more that 40km so if the direction from two or more stations don't overlap within 40km of each other then the strike doesn't get counted.

It's worth checking a few of the sites to get an idea of exactly where the strikes are happening and, as Thunder God says, check those locations with the rainfall radar & satellite images.

With my Boltek (which is in the loft Grant ), I've found that I'm getting a good general direction on most storms when compared to Blitz or Strike Star but the distance is sometimes well out. The distance is only a calculation that the Boltek does to say where it 'thinks' the strike occurred.
I've picked up strikes in Spain but my Nexstorm software puts the strike between Falmouth & the Channel Islands where there are no clouds and other activity.
Much as I have tried to calibrate my Boltek, if you look at the raw data on Blitz then it only takes the "raw" distance data from my system, not the calibrated data, so there will be some instances where my data will nearly converge with others but the distance will be short so no strike is counted.

I hope this all makes sence.

And here's another site that maybe helpfull: ATD Sferics

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humm - - i sometimes wonder if the VLF frequencies are the best for this - especially in a "local " scenario - i noted that some systems use vhf to detect local strikes - and as these tend to be line of sight ( radio wise ) apart from when you get sporadic E and or troppo ducting ( usually in summer ) would give a better indication of the direction if you used a rotatable vertical beam antenna

something i must look further in to

as to antenna in the roof - well at VLF - it will not make much difference inside or out as the wavelength is barely attenuated at these frequencies - VLF is also used for deep sea and through earth ( cave rescue ) communications

if any one would be interested in working on a vhf - system - i can do the radio bit - but the computer display bit is beyond me - could prove an interesting project though - and what i would REALLY like to have a go at is a microwave "Doppler " system - using sat dishes ( cheap /available ) - but that of course is far more complex a task

any ways winter cometh soon and its time to get the soldering iron out again methinks

brett - G6URM

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