Live Lightning Map Near Me
Search a city, state, or current location to check lightning in your area, last-24-hour strikes, and storm context powered by NOAA GOES East/West GLM satellite data.
Need recent activity? Open the lightning strike map for the last 24 hours.
Find lightning in your area
Search a city/state or use your location to open local strike activity, then save that area for phone alerts.
The web check answers now. The app can monitor this radius after you close the page.
Save this area on your phone.
Data source: NOAA GOES East/West GLM satellites.
Live Lightning Maps Beyond the United States
Regional pages exist only where live source-specific coverage is available. No empty country directory.
For lightning updates in the UK, open this dedicated United Kingdom map for recent satellite-detected flashes, with clear source and coverage limits.
NOAA / GOES GLM Canada lightning mapRecent GOES East and West lightning activity across Canadian regional viewport.
How to Use This Lightning Map Hub
Fast path from "lightning near me" to the page that answers your storm question
Choose your state first
State pages show recent detections, peak season, tracked cities, and safety context.
Open city lightning pages
City pages give more useful local context when people search for lightning near them or by metro area.
Open the right lightning guide
Use the near-me, radar, map, and alerts guides when you need the fastest answer to a lightning-risk question.
How to Read a Lightning Map
What each marker means, how far back the window goes, and what a map cannot tell you
Detections, not impact points
Each marker is the reported location of a detected flash. On this site that is a satellite-detected optical flash centroid from NOAA GOES East/West GLM, not a confirmed cloud-to-ground strike point.
Recency matters more than count
State and city maps show the last 24 hours, and recent detections read brighter than older ones. A cluster from twenty hours ago is history; one from five minutes ago is a decision.
Clusters show where a storm is electrically active
Tight clusters mark the electrically active core of a cell. Watch which way successive clusters move to judge whether activity is building toward you or away from you.
An empty map is not an all-clear
Provider publication, processing, network delivery, and page refresh all add variable delay. If you hear thunder, shelter immediately even when no marker appears nearby.
Detection comes from two sensor families: ground-based radio networks that triangulate the electromagnetic pulse of a flash, and space-based optical sensors such as the GOES Geostationary Lightning Mappers. Sensitivity, geolocation precision, and flash-type coverage differ between them — see the Lightning Tracker methodology for exactly what this site publishes, and the GOES GLM deep dive for how the satellite product is produced.
Need sensor, parallax, latency, and marker-limit detail? Read how accurate lightning maps are.
Start with Popular State Lightning Maps
Open frequently requested state routes and their city coverage
Popular City Lightning Pages
Use city pages when you care about nearby storms, local timing, and metro-area risk
Best Guides for Map, Near-Me, and Alerts Intent
These pages answer the most valuable search questions around lightning tracking
Use NWS local forecasts and SPC outlooks before storms develop; maps show recent detections after activity begins.
Yesterday Which states had the most lightning yesterday?Compare returned state daily flash counts with local-day and non-unique-total limits.
Last 24 hours Lightning strike map last 24 hoursOpen the live 24-hour strike hub, then jump into state and city maps for local recent flashes.
Closest strike Closest lightning strike to meGet the distance to the nearest recent strike using your location or a US zip code.
Comparison Best app for live lightning alertsCompare lightning tracker apps by map detail, alert speed, data source, and saved-area features.
Embed Embed a live lightning mapPut a live state strike map on your own site with one iframe snippet and no API key.
Near me How to check lightning near meSee what counts as nearby lightning, how distance changes risk, and when to get indoors.
Alerts Lightning alert near meSet saved-radius monitoring and understand push delivery versus official weather warnings.
Radar Lightning radar mapOpen live strike detections and see why electrical activity answers a different question than rain radar.
Thunder tracker Track an active thunderstormUse strike age, movement, distance, and alerts together when thunderstorm cells are active.
Browse Every State Lightning Map
Open any state to see tracked cities, storm season, and lightning safety context
Lightning Map FAQ
Answer the core near-me, radar, and spelling questions before you need to make a storm decision
Is there lightning in my area right now?
Search your city or state on the live lightning map hub, or allow location access in the quick check. Lightning Tracker uses NOAA GOES East/West GLM data to show recent strikes near your area and link you to local state or city maps.
Where was the nearest lightning strike?
Use the local quick check or open your state or city lightning map to see recent strike activity. The mobile app can keep a saved area ready and alert you when a new flash is detected inside your chosen radius.
Where can I see lightning strikes from the last 24 hours?
Open the last-24-hours lightning strike map, then choose your state or city to see recent NOAA GOES East/West GLM flashes, local strike counts, and phone alert options.
What does a lightning map show?
A lightning map shows the reported location and time of recent lightning detections. On Lightning Tracker, markers represent satellite-detected optical flashes from NOAA GOES East/West GLM, not guaranteed cloud-to-ground impact points.
Is lightning radar the same as a lightning map?
No. Weather radar shows precipitation such as rain and hail. A lightning map shows detected electrical activity. Use both together: radar explains storm structure, while lightning detections show where the storm is electrically active.
Is it lightning or lightening?
The weather word is lightning. Lightening means making something lighter. People often search both spellings, but Lightning Tracker is built for lightning strikes, lightning maps, and lightning alerts.
Want Saved-Area Alerts Instead of Checking Manually?
Install mobile app for qualifying saved-area notifications. Provider, network, operating-system, and device delays can occur.
Free 50 state maps Live alerts