About Lightning Alley
"Lightning Alley" refers to a region in the southeastern United States, particularly central Florida, that experiences the highest concentration of lightning strikes in North America. The combination of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico meeting land creates ideal conditions for thunderstorm formation.
This visualization uses data from the NOAA National Lightning Detection Network, aggregating 3.4 million individual strike records from 2018 into a geographic heatmap. The seasonal animation reveals how lightning activity peaks during summer months (June-August) and decreases dramatically in winter.