BC / LIVE REGIONAL FEED

British Columbia Lightning Map — Live Strikes

Live British Columbia lightning map with recent strikes detected by NOAA GOES GLM satellites. Not an Environment and Climate Change Canada warning.

Map loading…
Bolts show recent NOAA GOES East/West GLM detections. Locations are approximate; provider and display latency vary. Lime = newest, red = 1-6h, grey = older.
COVERAGE / HONESTY

What This Map Covers

Map viewport covers British Columbia using recent NOAA GOES East and West Geostationary Lightning Mapper flashes. British Columbia is a mountainous Pacific province where the Coast Mountains, the interior plateau and the Rockies break weather systems apart, and terrain-driven convection over the dry interior looks very different from the coast. The viewport spans the whole province, including Vancouver, Surrey, Victoria. Thunderstorms here are a warm-season pattern, generally May through August.

GLM detects optical flashes from orbit. It does not classify every marker as a cloud-to-ground strike, replace Canadian weather radar, or predict where lightning will hit next. This is not an Environment and Climate Change Canada product and carries no warning status. GLM sits in geostationary orbit above the equator, so it sees British Columbia at an increasingly shallow angle going north. Measured against the live feed, detections stop at roughly 55.5°N — the part of British Columbia above that line is outside usable viewing geometry, not quiet.

Safety limit: absence of a marker never proves outdoor safety. Satellite detections can be delayed or missed, and storms move between refreshes.

SOURCE / TRACEABLE

NOAA GOES East/West GLM

Lightning Tracker requests only this selected source for the regional viewport, keeping source attribution explicit.

Read official source documentation →
REGIONAL READ

Lightning Across British Columbia by Region

One map, one viewport. These notes explain what the feed usually looks like over each area.

The Southern Interior — Okanagan, Thompson and Kootenay

The most thunderstorm-prone part of the province. Storms here can produce lightning with very little rain reaching the ground, which is why interior lightning is watched closely as a wildfire ignition source through the dry months.

The Coast and Vancouver Island

Marine air off the Pacific is stable for most of the year, and thunderstorms are markedly less common than inland. Activity that does appear is usually tied to a passing front rather than to afternoon heating.

The Northern Interior and the Peace

Continental rather than maritime in character, with a short, sharp convective season. The northern edge of the province approaches the limit of usable satellite viewing geometry.

FIELD NOTES

British Columbia Lightning Map FAQ

Is this British Columbia lightning map live?

The map requests recent flashes from NOAA GOES East/West GLM. It refreshes while open, but network, satellite processing, and public-feed delays can occur.

What does the British Columbia lightning map show?

It plots recent satellite-detected lightning flashes inside the British Columbia regional viewport. It is a lightning-detection layer, not precipitation radar and not a forecast of the next strike.

Can I use this map instead of an official weather warning?

No. Use Environment and Climate Change Canada watches and warnings and local emergency guidance. If you hear thunder, move into a substantial building or hard-topped vehicle and wait 30 minutes after the last thunder.

Is there lightning in British Columbia right now?

Open the live map above. It plots lightning flashes detected over British Columbia by the NOAA GOES East and West Geostationary Lightning Mapper, refreshed while the page is open. An empty map means no recent detections in the feed, not proof that no storm is developing.

Does this replace an Environment and Climate Change Canada warning?

No. Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the official severe thunderstorm watches and warnings for British Columbia, and that is the source to follow for risk and safety guidance. This map shows where flashes have already been detected, which is a different question from what is forecast.

Which parts of British Columbia does this map cover?

The viewport is set to the whole province, so Vancouver, Surrey, Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George and the areas between and beyond them are all inside it. Zooming in does not change the source: every zoom level requests the same NOAA GOES GLM feed.

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