Mobile named lightning capital of AL in new report

If you noticed a lot of lightning in Mobile last year, you were right. According to Vaisala Weather’s report of top US cities where lightning strikes, Mobile made the list as the Alabama city with the most strikes in 2022. Can you guess how many occurred? Read on to find out, plus why it happened.

The numbers

Did you wager a guess of how many lightning strikes Mobile had in 2022? Let’s dive in.

According to Vaisala Weathers’ annual report, the state of Alabama had a total of 6,423,162 lightning strikes in 2022—an increase of 3% from 2021. The state’s lightning density also increased 4% from 2021.

Of this total, Mobile had 225 lightning events per square kilometer making it the state’s lightning capital. 

Why is Mobile a lightning hotspot?

There are a few reasons for Mobile’s many lightning strikes in 2022. WKRG 5 Meteorologist Lexi Birmingham explained:

“There are a number of reasons for that. One of those reasons being we have two severe weather seasons in the fall and spring. It’s because our environment is a little more favorable for stronger and severe thunderstorms to develop that could lead to more lightning activity.”

Lexi Birmingham, Meteorologist, Channel 5

Other factors to note include hurricane season and the Gulf Coast’s breeze caused by the slight different between the temperature over the land and water.

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