Harrisonburg, VA Weather

Regional Lighting Strike Activity

EXPERIMENTAL: Local Strike Activity - Lightning Counter

The data presented on this lightning strike activity graph is currently EXPERIMENTAL. I am working on best antenna position, orientation, and composition. Until otherwise noted, please use this data accordingly. The best lightning strike data for Harrisonburg can be seen here with GRLevel 3 data. Steve J. Baedke

This data is collected with a Hobby Boards Lightning Detector. This detector is grounded in my backyard with an eight foot copper grounding rod. When working properly, the detector is extremely sensitive picking up lightning as much as 60 miles away to the west or east or as far away an 100 miles to the south (Lynchburg, VA) (NOTE: Currently, the data seems to be accurate for lightning strikes not more than 20 miles away).

The detector, though, is sensitive enough that it also picks up many false strikes. These are usually the air conditioner, the electric striker used for our gas grill in the backyard, or even some small appliances in the house. It is usually easy to tell the difference between a real and a false strike as the false strikes generally show up as a sudden and/or random strike pattern, whereas a real storm will show a general increase over time from weak to strong and frequent activity as the storm approaches.