ELI5: How do lightning tracker websites work?

[Johnlarry]

Sitting on the toilet just now during a thunderstorm and a huge bolt of lightning flashed outside that must have been 2-3 miles away. I was watching the live lightning ( links removed by admin) map on LightningMaps.org and the flash that just saw was on my live map within 10 seconds! How is it possible to track the sky on a global scale like that?

[dupreezd]

Sitting on the toilet just now during a thunderstorm and a huge bolt of lightning flashed outside that must have been 2-3 miles away. I was watching the live lightning map on LightningMaps.org and the flash that just saw was on my live map within 10 seconds! How is it possible to track the sky on a global scale like that?

Hi, This is a good place to start.

http://en.blitzortung.org/cover_your_area.php

Read Project Description - (14. February 2016, 11:10), it is for the older Red systems but contains valuable information that is applicable to the new Blue.

Enjoy.

[scilover]

Its because the stations detect the VLF radio signals emitted by lightning flashes. It measures the time the signal arrives and uses the speed of light to calculate the distance. By measuring the distance from other different stations, they can triangulate the lightning's position.