Blitz stronghold in Bavaria: record numbers and dangerous discharges!

Blitz stronghold in Bavaria: record numbers and dangerous discharges!

In 2024, over 1.5 million flashes were registered in Germany with a current of at least 5 kA. This has been the highest annual number since 2018, as the flash location company Nowcast announced. It is particularly noteworthy that Bavaria leads to the federal state ranking with around 357,000 flash loads, followed by Lower Saxony with 223,000 and Baden-Württemberg with 163,000 science events.

The three counties with the highest lightning density are also located in Bavaria: Nuremberg, Schwabach and Rosenheim. The most flashing month of the year was June, in which around 460,000 flashes were registered. An outstanding event was the strongest flash, which was measured on September 19 in the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg in Hesse with an impressive current of around 452 KA. On the same day, a second unloading was recorded in the Schwalm-Eder district with 449 KA.

weather phenomena and precipitation

The lightning thickness is measured in amperes, whereby strong flashes can also occur during harmless thunderstorms. The biggest hail of the season took place on July 12th in the Rems-Murr district in Baden-Württemberg and had a diameter of up to 7 cm. In addition, on August 12th in Chieming near Traunstein, a strong gust of wind was found at a speed of 128 km/h. Overall, the frequency of large hails and gusts of wind was less common in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Particularly intensive precipitation was registered on August 1st in Trendelburg near Kassel, where 170 liters per square meter fell within less than 10 hours.

In addition, an analysis of lightning density was found that the lightning density is defined as the mean of the cloud earth flash per km² and year. Partial flashes are aggregated for calculation in order to obtain a better understanding of the lightning risk in relation to the lightning protection for buildings and structural systems, such as Elektro.net reported.