Siemens has published its “Blitzatlas 2022” with data from 2022 for all 402 urban and rural districts in the republic. This lightning information service from Siemens recorded around 242,000 lightning strikes in Germany in 2022. That’s not much, because in 2021 there were 491,000 flashes. This makes 2022 the year with the fewest lightning strikes in the last 30 years (since measurements were taken).
Why was there so little lightning in 2022?
“In the summer, especially in June and August, there was sometimes extreme drought with high temperatures of over 35 degrees. This time is usually the best time for thunderstorms. However, the amount of precipitation was well below the target value. However, thunderstorms require both – humidity and high temperatures,” says Stephan Thern, Head of the Lightning Information Service at Siemens.
Most flashes
According to the “Siemens Lightning Atlas 2022”, Kempten in the Allgäu is Germany’s lightning capital in 2022. With a lightning density of 2.4 lightning strikes per square kilometer, Kempten is in first place, followed by the neighboring district of Ostallgäu (2.2) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (2.0). , as Siemens writes.
The fewest flashes
The Siemens lightning service determined the lowest lightning density in the cities of Brandenburg an der Havel with 0.04 lightning events per square kilometer, in Upper Franconian Hof (0.07) and Oldenburg with a lightning density of 0.14.
Munich is the lightning capital of Germany
Among the state capitals, Munich tops the list with a lightning density of 1.5, followed by Potsdam (almost 1.2) and Stuttgart (1.1).
The lightning-richest federal state
Baden-Württemberg has the highest lightning density among the federal states at just under 1.0, and most lightning strikes in 2022 were in Bavaria – with almost 60,000 strikes, a quarter (25 percent) of all events measured. According to Stephan Thern, the fact that the southern federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg were once again at the forefront of thunderstorm events in 2022 is due to the proximity to the alpine foothills.
The month with the most lightning bolts
June is the most lightning-rich month in 2022 with almost 66,000 strikes, followed by August with over 51,000.
The day with the most lightning
On August 26, lightning struck 26,000 times (earth lightning). More than half of all lightning bolts in August occurred on a single day.
Even more information
You can find a lot more information about lightning activity in Germany here at Siemens.
