Lightning every second. Online maps of thunderstorms across Belarus. Online maps of the thunderstorm that is heading towards Belarus. Therefore, you need to choose the best ones
When planning events for the near future, we try to take into account the weather forecast for the day we need. Services that display online maps of thunderstorms, precipitation, cloudiness and other related information in real time can provide important assistance in this regard. In this material I will tell you which services you can use to get a lightning map online, and how to work with these services.
Features of network services with lightning maps
Working with services of this type is quite simple: you go to such a resource, use the mouse to select the desired location on the map, switch the map mode to display the weather conditions of interest (thunderstorms, storms, precipitation, temperature, snow, etc.), and view the result. .
Moreover, a number of such services, in addition to standard meteorological instruments, also use their own user networks. Allowing timely tracking and display of any changes in the specifics of natural phenomena in one place or another in the world.
Let's move on to a description of services that allow you to view a map of thunderstorms online.
Blitzortung.org - view thunderstorms on a map in real time
The Blitzortung.org project is a global weather network that allows you to track thunderstorms and storms occurring around the globe in real time. It brings together many enthusiasts who collect and aggregate the resulting weather data, and then display all the processed information in the form of corresponding symbols on the map.
In addition to direct observation, the portal invites users to take part in the work of the project and report to the site about the presence of storms, lightning and other relevant weather phenomena in the local area.
When you go to the resource, you will see a designation of ongoing thunderstorms and lightning in the form of dots. White dots are recently recorded lightning, and the redder the color of the dot, the more time has passed since lightning was recorded in a given location.
Windy.com - popular weather map
The popular Czech resource windy.com allows you to visually track weather conditions at the local point desired by the user. When you go to a resource in the panel on the right, you can select the desired display mode (wind, clouds, temperature, waves, CAPE index). And also decide on a model for constructing a weather forecast, depending on the mathematical formula used, the frequency of forecast revisions per day, features of data access and other factors (NEMS, ECMWF, GFS models are available to choose from).
At the same time, the Windy service not only displays the specifics of the weather online, but also allows you to visually observe the forecast for its changes for the next 10 days.
Eustormmap.com - European resource for online storm mapping
Despite the fact that the eustormmap.com service focuses on displaying natural disasters mainly in European countries, its capabilities allow you to display the presence of thunderstorms, storms, precipitation and other natural phenomena in other countries of the world.
When you go to the resource below, you can choose which display to turn on (precipitation, hail, storms, etc.), and then get a display of the weather phenomena you selected on the map provided by the service.
Lightningmaps.org - allows you to track online lightning around the world
The network project lightningmaps.org, similar in its concept and implementation specifics to the blitzortung.org already described above, borrows part of the weather data from the latter. Its specificity is the display of lightning flashes recorded around the world.
Lightning flashes are displayed as yellow dots on the map; after time, their color changes to red, allowing the user to more accurately determine when a particular lightning strike was recorded.
"Yandex.Weather" - will help you track the map of thunderstorms in Russia
And the last service that helps display a map of thunderstorms online is the domestic resource “Yandex.Weather”. The site has a precipitation map display mode, allowing you to view the weather forecast for a period of up to 30 days for the selected area, including pressure, precipitation, wind, humidity and other weather conditions.
At the same time, the service has a version for mobile gadgets, and boasts the use of a unique weather calculation technology “Meteum”.
Yandex.Weather will allow you to predict precipitation in a particular region
Conclusion
Any of the services we have listed is suitable for displaying thunderstorm maps online. All of them have an online map displaying weather conditions (including the presence of thunderstorms in a particular geographic location). Allowing you not only to track the current weather at a particular point, but also to present a forecast for the near future. I especially recommend the blitzortung.org project - it has received high praise from many users.
Minsk resident Viktor Barchenko knows exactly where and when a thunderstorm will begin in the world. He is the first and so far the only person in Belarus to assemble a lightning direction finder - a receiving station for determining the coordinates of atmospheric discharges, registered on the online service Blitzortung.org. The owner himself spoke about why an IT specialist needs to catch lightning and why it is easier to detect bad weather in Madagascar than in Central Europe.
The online service Blitzortung.org is a non-profit network of receiving stations around the world installed by enthusiasts. Direction finders detect lightning discharges and transmit data to a central server, where the coordinates of the flashes are calculated based on the time the signal arrived. The more stations that detect lightning and the closer they are located, the more accurate the location.
“It was necessary to feed the brain with a problem”
In ordinary life, Viktor Barchenko is a technical director at the IT company FP Trade. But in his heart he remained faithful to the radio engineering education of his native BSUIR. After a working day at the office, the man goes to a village near Minsk, where he stores equipment for monitoring lightning discharges in a workshop.
The direction finder is not the first project to come out of his hands. About a year ago, Victor, at his own expense, created a Flightradar receiver that allows real-time tracking of aircraft positions. The man installed the device on the roof of his office building.
- The device was from the series “order a piece of hardware, install it, and it will work.” But life threw up many difficulties. For example, for safety reasons, it is prohibited to conduct 220 volts to the roof of a building without special permission. Therefore, together with a friend, we developed a custom system where power was supplied using Power Over Ethernet technology. We also protected the receiver with a hermetically sealed box and installed two thermostats responsible for heating and cooling. As a result, the device survived the fall, winter and spring, began to work well and ended up somewhere in 300th place among ten thousand other Flightradar receivers around the world. It was interesting to think about fixing problems. But when I realized that it was over, it became boring again. It was necessary to feed the brains with some problem. And then I remembered about Blitzortung.org,- Victor explains.
Silent noise
The cost of a lightning direction finder is not that high - within 500 euros. Requires an antenna system, VLF amplifier, controller board and GPS receiver. Almost everything can be ordered in Germany from the creator of the Blitzortung project, Egon Wijk. However, due to high duties on parcels from abroad, Victor decided that it would be easier and cheaper to deliver the equipment himself.
- Brought here by plane. The old Flightradar box didn’t fit, so I went to Vilnius and bought a new one. We don't sell this. Well, or you need to try to find it. In the conditions of Belarusian reality, the main thing is to come to the store and collect what you need from the available assortment,- the enthusiast says half jokingly, half seriously.
The result is obvious. Thus, an electric antenna located on the roof of a workshop is packaged in a piece of sewer pipe. The magnetic antenna is attached to two plastic plates from under flowerpots. But the creator is concerned not with the aesthetic, but with the functional side of the device. After all, it is planned that the direction finder will be installed in the open air within the city.
The main problem lies in the sensitivity of the station to noise. Even simply turning on a nearby light bulb causes a burst of noise. What can we say about a big city crammed with electronics.
- You see, the monitor displays three channels from the magnetic antenna, plus one more from the electric one. In fact, every surge is a lightning strike. The farthest lightning we detected was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean - 8770 km from us. The closest is 2.2 km. And if there is too much interference, we will stop seeing distant discharges, only close ones. This will lead to a loss of adaptability. After all, how does the station work? She listens to the broadcast, cranking up the amplifiers to the noise level, and adjusts to them. To see further, we need a lower noise level above which we can hear the discharge. So the city is not the best place to place such equipment,- Victor complains.
To check, the man placed the direction finder on the same office roof. But the noise level was too high for normal operation. Now Victor is thinking about who to contact to install a station on a high point outside the city. Of course, I would like to attract mobile operators to cooperation and agree with them to install equipment on a suburban cellular tower. But, unfortunately, this often means inevitable advertising - for example, adding the name of the operator to the “Minsk” point on the Blitzortung website. And the man is against using his brainchild for commercial purposes. He is no less skeptical about the proposal to ask for help from the Belarusian weather services:
- What for? Weather services have radar that shows clouds (whether thunderstorm or non-thunderstorm) and they think that's enough. The radar is updated every 15 minutes, and here everything is displayed in real time. Friends suggested raising money through crowdfunding, but I decided that first I should test the direction finder in a city environment. I didn’t want to upset investors with a non-functioning or poorly functioning device.
"For what? For the soul"
Victor displays a map of the world on the monitor, where lightning strikes are marked with colored dots. Thin lines lead to stations that received the signal. While in Europe and North America the terrain is literally dotted with direction finder marks, in the CIS there are only one or two of them.
- In Kazakhstan, just a little, in Ukraine only three... In Lithuania, not a single one. Most stations are in Germany. But in Finland there are not very many of them, but there is not a huge amount of interference from enterprises: this country has a “clean” power grid and very good reception. I'm even a little jealous- the man smiles. - But we also hear thunderstorms from all over Europe, only from the central part it’s difficult to travel, the mountains get in the way. Good reception - from the Pacific Ocean, we can still see it over Madagascar. Install a second station in Belarus? What for? It would be cooler to install it in the Urals region, since there are no instruments there and the signal is hard to hear.
Victor admits that the last thing he thinks about is the benefit from the direction finder:
- The most terrible question is “why do you need this?” People don't understand that you can do something for nothing. For the soul. But in general, there are benefits for Belarus. If the weather radar only shows the possibility of a thunderstorm, then the direction finder allows you to declare with full responsibility that there will definitely be a thunderstorm. I see the discharges, their intensity. I won't be caught off guard. At least, if any fisherman, sitting on the river, sees from this thing that a thunderstorm front is coming, he will understand: it’s time to roll up his carbon fiber fishing rod and quietly run.
Victor cannot predict what will happen to the station in the future. But he is already thinking about his next project. If the first was aimed at tracking aircraft, the second at tracking lightning, then the third will go beyond the atmosphere. The man plans to purchase a wide-range receiver, assemble a radio telescope and receive signals from space.
You can monitor lightning discharges in real time
Today, July 11, most of Belarus will experience a severe thunderstorm. There will be rain, hail and strong winds possible. Forecasters declared an orange level of danger.
Lightning is a very fascinating spectacle if you watch it from afar, for example, via the Internet. Here are several services that will help you assess the scale of the disaster and not get wet.
Blitzortung
Data on each discharge recorded by weather stations. Information appears almost immediately - with a delay of six seconds. The white mark here is the area of the registered fresh discharge. The redder it is, the more time has passed.
Lightning Maps
The same data as in the previous service, combined with Google maps. You can, for example, watch lightning strike on your street or approach your dacha.
Yandex.Weather
The Yandex service can show where it is raining right now, how heavy it is and what will happen in the next two hours. True, this map does not work for the whole of Belarus - online you can monitor precipitation only in the Mogilev, Vitebsk and part of the Gomel regions.
They say nature has no bad weather. Nevertheless, a thunderstorm and rain outside the window can ruin many of our plans, bringing inconvenience and discomfort into our lives. Trying to predict the weather for a given period, we turn to network services that offer online weather forecasts. Most often we are interested in the forecast of thunderstorms and precipitation, and below we will look at which services will show us a map of thunderstorms online, and how to work with them.
Online thunderstorm map - specifics of network services
There are a sufficient number of resources on the network that offer users an online map of thunderstorms. These resources are free, have a regularly updated dynamic map, and are often volunteer-based. The built-in Russian-language interface makes working with them convenient for a Russian-speaking user.
Working with them will not create any problems even for beginners. The home screen has a convenient text menu that allows you to switch between different forms of weather display (thunderstorm, hail, wind, rain, clouds, snow, temperature, etc.). Using the mouse or the search function, you will need to find the desired geographic region on the map and turn on the weather display form that interests you at the moment.
When registering on such resources, you receive additional bonuses: information about weather changes in a particular region, the opportunity to participate in the volunteer movement, the latest news from the resource, and so on.
Volunteer equipment for creating a local weather station Let's look at network services that provide an online map of thunderstorm activity.
Blitzortung.org – online volunteer meteorological project
Blitzortung.org is a network for detecting thunderstorms and lightning, based on many VLF receivers scattered around the world. The number of stations with such receivers is more than 500; data from them is sent to computer servers, where the information is processed, summarized, and transmitted to Blitzortung. Almost all people employed on this resource are volunteers working on a voluntary basis. The project has a popular subsidiary implementation hosted on the lightningmaps.org resource.
The resource is available at ru.blitzortung.org. To obtain information about weather and thunderstorms, you can use both the general world map and select a specific continent or region on the left. In the menu at the top, archived data for the date requested by the user is available.
Windy.com - online wind and thunderstorm map
Kite, helicopter, and jet enthusiast Czech millionaire Ivo Lukakovic created the Windy.com rain and thunderstorm map in 2014 as part of his home web programming hobby. Since then, the project has acquired a significant meteorological base, agreements have been reached with a number of similar projects (“Meteoblue”), the staff has been replenished with qualified programmers, and Android and iOS versions of the resource have been launched. GFS and NEMS were chosen as the main weather forecasting models. There is also support for the Russian language.
- Launch windy.com, enter the name of the region you need in the search bar on the left, and select the “Rain, thunderstorm” option on the right.
- Just below you can switch between the ICON, ECMWF and GFS forecasting models.
- In the very bottom line you can see how the weather will change over the next 10 days.
Weather from Yandex online
The Yandex company operates in many digital areas, and the weather service was developed by Yandex quite a long time ago. The weather service from Yandex makes it possible to switch between forms of displaying precipitation, lightning, temperature, wind, pressure, thunderstorms, and even the concentration of pollen in the air (which will be useful for allergy sufferers). Here you can view both the weather forecast for the next 3 hours at intervals of 10 minutes, and for the next 10 days and month.
Log in to yandex.ru/pogoda, enter the name of the desired locality in the search bar, and select the “Precipitation” option at the top.
Ventusky.com - allows you to view the movement of thunderstorms in real time
The “Ventusky” project was created by the Czech meteorology company “InMeteo” together with two enthusiasts – Moizik and Prantl. The name of the resource comes from the Latin “ventusky”, which translates as “wind”. This resource provides fairly accurate meteorological indicators, displaying weather changes around the globe. The service works on a variety of weather indicators (precipitation, lightning, cloudiness, wind speed and gusts, atmospheric pressure, thunderstorms, humidity, etc.), and is considered one of the most popular resources of this plan.
- Go to ventusky.com, select the desired region in the search bar, as well as the weather display form on the left.
- At the very bottom you can view the weather forecast for the near future.
- And clicking on the “App” button will give you the opportunity to download the mobile application of the same name to your smartphone.
The brainchild of the Czech company InMeteo - the Ventusky project Rainviewer.com – private project map of a domestic enthusiast
The founder, inspirator and implementer of the Rainviewer project is domestic programmer Alexey Schastlivy, who developed the thunderstorm website rainviewer.com and corresponding mobile applications. Precipitation Map aims to provide its user with the most accurate precipitation map by collecting and organizing information from radars around the world. The site systematically scans sources of radar information, processes and systematizes them, and then displays the information on a map posted on the resource.
- When you go to rainviewer.com you will see a map that scrolls with the mouse.
- By clicking on the “Play” button at the top you can track the latest changes in the weather.
- And the “Options” button will allow you to customize the display specifics.
Conclusion
The resources listed above are some of the highest quality, allowing you to display a map of thunderstorms in real time with a good level of graphics. I would especially recommend paying attention to the Windy and Ventusky resources - their capabilities are valued by meteorology professionals and enthusiasts around the world.
Thunderstorms and lightning are a very fascinating spectacle if you watch them from afar, for example, via the Internet. Here are several online services that will help you assess the scale of the disaster and avoid getting wet.
Lightning Maps
The same data as in the previous service, combined with Google maps. You can, for example, watch lightning strike on your street or approach your dacha.
Windy
Animation with wind speed and direction - you can see in real time where it is windiest right now. The warmer the shade, the stronger the wind.
Sat24
How the clouds have been moving for the last two hours is clearly visible in the animation made from satellite images.
Yandex.Weather
The Yandex service can show where it is raining right now, how heavy it is and what will happen in the next two hours. True, this map does not work for the whole of Belarus - online you can monitor precipitation only in the Mogilev, Vitebsk and part of the Gomel regions.
Radareu
This map shows the radar reflectivity of the atmosphere—essentially the amount of precipitation. Minimum (blue) - clear weather, maximum (red or burgundy) - heavy hail and snow. New data arrives every 10 minutes, and you can watch an accelerated animation for a period of half an hour to six hours.