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+--- Thread: seeing map strikes and counting seconds for distance (/showthread.php?tid=4121)
seeing map strikes and counting seconds for distance - GeezerD - 2025-09-06
Whenever I see a flash of lightning, I always start counting seconds until I hear thunder, to estimate distance.
Is this common among the Blitzliebhaber or Blitzenangsthaber here at Blitzortung?
I can now do this a different way with Blitzortung maps. I am staying temporarily in an area that has thunderstorms every afternoon: this is common in mountainous areas with summer monsoon rain. I'm working inside, and I can't see lightning flashes, but when I hear thunder, I open the dynamic map at Blitzortung.org, center my position in it, and then zoom in as close as possible.
On another screen, I bring up google maps, and measure the distance from the center of the Blitzortung dynamic map to its edges. With this distance in mind, I start to watch the lightning map.
When I see new lightning strikes on the map, I start counting seconds, starting with the instantaneous delay I see on the map, until I hear thunder, and very often the time/distance corresponds well with that closest lightning strike that triggered the counting. I can often hear approximate azimuth when the thunder arrives, as well.
Sometimes I have to stop counting seconds when the time/distance would place the lightning strike off of the Blitzortung map.
Perhaps half the time there is thunder but no Blitzortung strike. I suspect that these are often IC (Inter-Cloud) strikes, which Blitzortung does not locate (for more reasons other than just their non-vertical polarization).