Six Months of World Lightning

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From our friends at Vaisala, here is a map of world lightning strikes from March 1 to October 31, 2010 (click to enlarge).
Thanks to their new technology lightning can be monitored worldwide for the first time. One thing that jumps out at me is the high number of strikes in the Upper Mississippi Valley. They had a much worse than normal tornado season in the area and the amount of lightning corresponds to it.

UPDATE: Saturday morning: A tragic story of lightning killing 7 children and injuring 67 at a South African school.

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