Live lightning map
Boltwatch shows lightning strikes in real time on a fast, smooth map. Over the Americas and the surrounding oceans it uses NOAA's GOES satellites, and over the Nordics and Baltics it adds ground-sensor data. Every strike lands on the map in the order it happened. Tap “Near me” to see how far away the closest strike is, which way it is, and whether the storm is getting closer.
Europe and Africa coverage from the new Meteosat Lightning Imager is coming soon.
Lightning maps by country
- United States
- Canada
- Mexico
- Guatemala
- Belize
- El Salvador
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Costa Rica
- Panama
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- Puerto Rico
- Jamaica
- Haiti
- Bahamas
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Chile
- Colombia
- Peru
- Venezuela
- Ecuador
- Bolivia
- Paraguay
- Uruguay
- Guyana
- Suriname
- French Guiana
- Finland
- Sweden
- Norway
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
US states
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Major cities
- São Paulo
- Mexico City
- New York, NY
- Buenos Aires
- Rio de Janeiro
- Los Angeles, CA
- Bogotá
- Lima
- Chicago, IL
- Dallas, TX
- Houston, TX
- Santiago
- Washington, DC
- Philadelphia, PA
- Atlanta, GA
- Toronto
- Miami, FL
- Belo Horizonte
- Guadalajara
- Monterrey
- Phoenix, AZ
- Boston, MA
- Brasília
- San Francisco, CA
- Riverside, CA
- Detroit, MI
- Montreal
- Porto Alegre
- Fortaleza
- Seattle, WA
- Medellín
- Recife
- Salvador
- Minneapolis, MN
- Curitiba
- Santo Domingo
- San Diego, CA
- Tampa, FL
- Denver, CO
- Guatemala City
Frequently asked questions
- Is there lightning near your area right now?
- The map shows every lightning flash detected in the last hour and keeps updating on its own. Newest strikes flash white, then fade through yellow and orange to red and purple as they age. Tap “Near me” to see the distance and direction to the closest strike, and whether storms are getting closer.
- How far away can lightning strike?
- Lightning can strike 10 miles (16 km) or more from the storm that produces it, often out of a clear sky. If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck. Go indoors and wait at least 30 minutes after the last thunder before going back outside.
- Where does the lightning data come from?
- Over the Americas and the surrounding oceans, strikes come from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on NOAA's GOES-East and GOES-West satellites. It detects in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning, day and night, over land and sea. Over the Nordics and Baltics we add ground-sensor data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute, which also measures each strike's peak current.
- How live is the map?
- Satellite data arrives in 20-second batches, about a minute after the lightning happens. Instead of dumping a batch all at once, the map replays each strike at the moment it happened. The badge at the top shows exactly how far behind real time it is, usually around a minute.
- How accurate are the strike locations?
- Satellite detections are accurate to roughly 8–10 km. That's ideal for tracking storms, but not for finding the exact spot a bolt hit. Ground-network strikes in the Nordics are typically accurate to within a few hundred metres.
- Is Boltwatch free?
- Yes. There's no sign-up and no app to install. Open the page and the map runs.