ON / LIVE REGIONAL FEED

Ontario Lightning Map — Live Strikes

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

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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 Ontario using recent NOAA GOES East and West Geostationary Lightning Mapper flashes. Ontario stretches from the Great Lakes shorelines in the south to the Hudson Bay lowlands in the north, so one provincial viewport spans two very different storm environments. The viewport spans the whole province, including Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga. Thunderstorms here are a warm-season pattern, generally May through September.

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 Ontario at an increasingly shallow angle going north. Measured against the live feed, detections stop at roughly 55.5°N — the part of Ontario 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 Ontario by Region

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

Southwestern Ontario and the Windsor-to-London corridor

The warmest and most humid corner of the province, wedged between Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie. Lake-breeze fronts moving inland from two directions at once collide here on hot afternoons, and that convergence is a common trigger for the storms that show up on this map.

The Greater Toronto Area and the Lake Ontario shore

Cool air off Lake Ontario can hold the shoreline stable while storms fire inland over the higher ground behind it. Cells often look strongest well north of the lakefront and weaken as they approach the water, so a quiet map over downtown does not mean a quiet map over Peel or York.

The Canadian Shield and Northern Ontario

Storms up here mostly cross forest and lake rather than towns, so they pass unremarked on the ground while still registering from orbit. Ontario reaches far enough north that its top edge sits at the shallow limit of the satellite's view.

CANADA / OTHER VIEWPORTS

Lightning Maps for Other Provinces and Territories

Same NOAA GOES GLM feed, a different viewport for each region. The national Canada lightning map covers all of them at once.

RELATED INSTRUMENTS

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FIELD NOTES

Ontario Lightning Map FAQ

Is this Ontario 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 Ontario lightning map show?

It plots recent satellite-detected lightning flashes inside the Ontario 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 Ontario right now?

Open the live map above. It plots lightning flashes detected over Ontario 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 Ontario, 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 Ontario does this map cover?

The viewport is set to the whole province, so Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga, Hamilton, London, Thunder Bay 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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