In 2024, the state with the most number of lightning strikes recorded across the United States was Texas, with over 42.4 million lightning events. Texas always has a higher lightning count than any other state, partly due to its size and location. Ranking second that year was the state of Florida, with some 15.5 million lightning events recorded.

Florida was the state with the highest lightning density across the United States in 2023, having recorded nearly 113 lightning events per square kilometer. That year, Florida was also the state with the second-largest number of lightning strikes in total. Meanwhile, the state of Mississippi ranked second in terms lightning density, at about 104 lightning events per square kilometer.

Oregon recorded the largest number of lightning-caused wildfires in the United States in 2024. That year, there were 887 wildfires started by lightning in the southwestern state. For comparison, this represents almost 40 percent of the total number of wildfires recorded in Oregon the same year. Arizona ranked second, with 769 lightning-caused wildfires recorded. Lightning is the main natural cause of bush and forest fires.

In 2023, there were a total of 14 fatalities and 56 injuries reported due to lighting in the United States. In the previous year, there were 19 deaths and 53 injuries reported due to lightning nationwide.

Lightning Protection Systems Market Outlook

The global market size for Lightning Protection Systems was valued at approximately $4.5 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to $7.8 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2% during the forecast period. This market growth can be attributed to the increasing incidence of lightning strikes due to climate change, the growing awareness regarding the importance of lightning protection, and stringent government regulations mandating the installation of these systems in various sectors.

The primary factor driving the growth of the Lightning Protection Systems market is the escalating frequency and severity of lightning strikes globally. Climate change has resulted in unpredictable weather patterns, increasing the occurrence of thunderstorms and lightning strikes. This has heightened the risk of damage to infrastructure, leading to a surge in demand for effective lightning protection solutions. Additionally, the awareness among end-users regarding the potential hazards of lightning, including fires, electrical surges, and structural damage, has significantly bolstered the adoption of these systems.

Another significant driver is the stringent regulatory framework established by various governments worldwide. Numerous countries have mandated the installation of lightning protection systems in both new constructions and existing structures to safeguard human life and property. For instance, standards such as the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 780 in the United States and IEC 62305 in Europe outline specific requirements for lightning protection, compelling compliance and thereby driving market growth. The adherence to these standards ensures the effectiveness and reliability of lightning protection systems, further fostering their adoption.

Technological advancements in lightning protection systems also contribute to market expansion. The integration of advanced materials and innovative designs has led to the development of more efficient and durable protection solutions. Modern systems now incorporate real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance capabilities, enhancing their performance and reducing downtime. These advancements not only improve the safety of structures but also minimize the costs associated with lightning-related damages, making them an attractive investment for end-users across various sectors.

The concept of a Lightning Rod is integral to the effectiveness of conventional lightning protection systems. These devices, typically made of conductive materials such as copper or aluminum, serve as the first point of contact for a lightning strike. By providing a direct path to the ground, lightning rods help to prevent electrical surges and structural damage. Their strategic placement on rooftops and other high points of a building ensures that lightning is safely redirected away from critical areas, thereby safeguarding both the structure and its occupants. The evolution of lightning rods over the years has seen improvements in their design and materials, enhancing their ability to withstand the high energy levels associated with lightning strikes.

From a regional perspective, North America is expected to dominate the Lightning Protection Systems market due to its stringent safety regulations and high awareness levels among end-users. Europe follows closely, driven by robust regulatory mandates and significant investments in infrastructure safety. The Asia Pacific region is anticipated to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period, attributed to rapid urbanization, increasing construction activities, and growing awareness about lightning hazards. Emerging economies in Latin America and the Middle East & Africa are also projected to contribute to market growth, driven by infrastructural developments and regulatory reforms.

Product Type Analysis

The Lightning Protection Systems market can be segmented based on product type into Conventional Lightning Protection Systems and Advanced Lightning Protection Systems. Conventional systems, which include traditional rods, conductors, and grounding systems, have been widely used for decades due to their proven effectiveness and relatively lower cost. These systems are primarily used in residential and small commercial applications where basic protection is sufficient. The simplicity and reliability of conventional systems ensure their continued demand, particularly in regions with limited technolo

National Risk Index Version: March 2023 (1.19.0)Lightning is a visible electrical discharge or spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the air, and/or the ground often produced by a thunderstorm. Annualized frequency values for Lightning are in units of events per year.The National Risk Index is a dataset and online tool that helps to illustrate the communities most at risk for 18 natural hazards across the United States and territories: Avalanche, Coastal Flooding, Cold Wave, Drought, Earthquake, Hail, Heat Wave, Hurricane, Ice Storm, Landslide, Lightning, Riverine Flooding, Strong Wind, Tornado, Tsunami, Volcanic Activity, Wildfire, and Winter Weather. The National Risk Index provides Risk Index values, scores and ratings based on data for Expected Annual Loss due to natural hazards, Social Vulnerability, and Community Resilience. Separate values, scores and ratings are also provided for Expected Annual Loss, Social Vulnerability, and Community Resilience. For the Risk Index and Expected Annual Loss, values, scores and ratings can be viewed as a composite score for all hazards or individually for each of the 18 hazard types.Sources for Expected Annual Loss data include: Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Arizona State University’s (ASU) Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security (CEMHS), California Department of Conservation, California Office of Emergency Services California Geological Survey, Colorado Avalanche Information Center, CoreLogic’s Flood Services, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program, Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX), Iowa State University's Iowa Environmental Mesonet, Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MLRC) Consortium, National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Cooperative Open Online Landslide Repository (COOLR), National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service (NWS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office for Coastal Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geophysical Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System, Puerto Rico Seismic Network, Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, State of Hawaii’s Office of Planning’s Statewide GIS Program, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), U.S. Forest Service's Fire Modeling Institute's Missoula Fire Sciences Lab, U.S. Forest Service's National Avalanche Center (NAC), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Geological Survey's Landslide Hazards Program, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), University of Alaska – Fairbanks' Alaska Earthquake Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln's National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), University of Southern California's Tsunami Research Center, and Washington State Department of Natural Resources.Data for Social Vulnerability are provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Social Vulnerability Index, and data for Community Resilience are provided by University of South Carolina's Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute’s (HVRI) 2020 Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities.The source of the boundaries for counties and Census tracts are based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 TIGER/Line shapefiles. Building value and population exposures for communities are based on FEMA’s Hazus 6.0. Agriculture values are based on the USDA 2017 Census of Agriculture.

Indonesia – the world's largest archipelagic country – registered a total of 76.5 million lightning events in 2022. Indonesia's distinctive geology and tropical location result in favorable conditions for frequent lightning in the country. Meanwhile, Argentina recorded a total of 41.9 million lightning events that year.

These rasters depict the predicted human- and lightning-caused ignition probability for the state of California. Ignition is regulated by complex interactions among climate, fuel, topography, and humans. Considerable studies have advanced our knowledge on patterns and drivers of total areas burned and fire frequency, but much is less known about wildfire ignition. To better design effective fire prevention and management strategies, it is critical to understand contemporary ignition patterns and predict the probability of wildfire ignitions from different sources. UC Davis researchers modeled and analyzed human- and lightning-caused ignition probability across the whole state and sub-ecoregions of California, USA. Findings reinforce the importance of varying humans vs biophysical controls in different fire regimes, highlighting the need for locally optimized land management to reduce ignition probability. Based on the most complete ignition database available, researchers developed maximum entropy models to predict the spatial distribution of long-term human- and lightning-caused ignition probability at 1 km and investigated how a set of biophysical and anthropogenic variables controlled their spatial variation in California and across its sub-ecoregions. Results showed that the integrated models with both biophysical and anthropogenic drivers predicted well the spatial patterns of both human- and lightning-caused ignitions in statewide and sub-ecoregions of California. Model diagnostics of the relative contribution and marginalized response curves showed that precipitation, slope, human settlement, and road network were the most important variables for shaping human-caused ignition probability, while snow water equivalent, lightning density, and fuel amount were the most important variables controlling the spatial patterns of lightning-caused ignition probability. The relative importance of biophysical and anthropogenic predictors differed across various sub-ecoregions of California.

Lightning induced damage is one of the major concerns in aircraft health monitoring. Such short-duration high voltages can cause significant damage to electronic devices. This paper presents a study on the effects of lightning injection on power metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). This approach consisted of pin- injecting lightning waveforms into the gate, drain and/or source of MOSFET devices while they were in the OFF-state. Analysis of the characteristic curves of the devices showed that for certain injection modes the devices can accumulate considerable damage rendering them inoperable. Early results demonstrate that a power MOSFET, even in its off-state, can incur considerable damage due to lightning pin injection, leading to significant deviation in its behavior and performance, and to possibly early device failures.

description: 'Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena' is a monthly publication containing a chronological listing, by state, of hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail, floods, drought conditions, lightning, high winds, snow, temperature extremes and other weather phenomena. The reports are provided by the National Weather Service and contain statistics on personal injuries and damage estimates. Storm Data is a publication of the National Climatic Data Center.; abstract: 'Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena' is a monthly publication containing a chronological listing, by state, of hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail, floods, drought conditions, lightning, high winds, snow, temperature extremes and other weather phenomena. The reports are provided by the National Weather Service and contain statistics on personal injuries and damage estimates. Storm Data is a publication of the National Climatic Data Center.

Power electronics are widely used in critical roles in modern day aircrafts and hence their health management is of great interest. An important part of prognostics and health management of these devices is understand- ing the effect of high-stress events such as lightning and how they affect their aging. In this paper we present our study and analysis of lightning injection experiments with power MOSFETs in their ON state. We show the different kind of damages that can be caused by such events and analyze their effects on device performance parameters. In addition, we present a simple yet effec- tive modeling technique that can model the degradation in these devices. Such models will play a valuable role in understanding the behavior of these damaged devices when operated under normal conditions later and sub- sequently in prognosis of their remaining useful life.We present our results on the performance of this modeling and the scope within which they can be utilized for ac- curate estimation of device damage.

United States Electric Vehicle Sales: Ford: Ford F-150 Lightning data was reported at 10,703.000 Unit in Dec 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 7,162.000 Unit for Sep 2024. United States Electric Vehicle Sales: Ford: Ford F-150 Lightning data is updated quarterly, averaging 6,464.000 Unit from Dec 2021 (Median) to Dec 2024, with 13 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11,905.000 Unit in Dec 2023 and a record low of 76.000 Unit in Dec 2021. United States Electric Vehicle Sales: Ford: Ford F-150 Lightning data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Cox Automotive. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.RA007: Electric Vehicle Sales: by Brand and Model.

Storm Data is provided by the National Weather Service (NWS) and contain statistics on personal injuries and damage estimates. Storm Data covers the United States of America. The data began as early as 1950 through to the present, updated monthly with up to a 120 day delay possible. NCDC Storm Event database allows users to find various types of storms recorded by county, or use other selection criteria as desired. The data contain a chronological listing, by state, of hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail, floods, drought conditions, lightning, high winds, snow, temperature extremes and other weather phenomena.

The Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) Backgrounds was collected by the LIS instrument on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite used to detect the distribution and variability of total lightning occurring in the Earth’s tropical and subtropical regions. This data can be used for severe storm detection and analysis, as well as for lightning-atmosphere interaction studies. The LIS instrument makes measurements during both day and night with high detection efficiency. These data are available in both HDF-4 and netCDF-4 formats.

The NRT Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on International Space Station (ISS) Provisional Science Data dataset was collected by the LIS instrument mounted on the ISS and are used to detect the distribution and variability of total lightning occurring in the Earth’s tropical and subtropical regions. This dataset consists of near-real time science data. This data collection can be used for severe storm detection and analysis, as well as for lightning-atmosphere interaction studies . The LIS instrument makes measurements during both day and night with high detection efficiency. The data are available in both HDF-4 and netCDF-4 formats, with corresponding browse images in GIF format.

<tr height="19"

Field	Description
Elevation	Elevation
Latitude	Latitude
Longitude	Longitude
State	State
County	County
Agency	Agency
Unit	Unit
StationID	StationID
MesoWestURL	MesoWestURL
StnName_Clean	Station Name
NWSID_Clean	NWSID
GACC	GACC
Dispatch	Dispatch
PSA	PSA
FuelModelCode	Fuel ModelC ode
NFDRS_Data_URL	NFDRS Data URL
Obs_Data_URL	Obs Data URL
nfdr_dt	NFDRS Obs Date
nfdr_tm	NFDRS Obs Hour
nfdr_dt_tm	NFDRS Obs Datetime
nfdr_datetime	NFDRS Obs Datetime with Time Zone
nfdr_type	NFDRS Obs Type
mp	Model Priority
msgc	Fuel Model-Slope-Grass-Climate Class (MSGC)
one_hr	1-hr Fuel Moisture (%)
ten_hr	10-hr Fuel Moisture (%)
hu_hr	100-hr Fuel Moisture (%)
th_hr	1,000-hr Fuel Moisture (%)
xh_hr	Live Fuel Moisture Recovery Value (X1000)
ic	Ignition Component (IC)
kbdi	Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI)
sc	Spread Component (SC)
ec	Obs Energy Release Component (ERC)
ec_percentile	Obs Energy Release Component (ERC) Percentile
ec_trend	Obs Energy Release Component (ERC) Trend
ec_fcast	For Energy Release Component (ERC)
ec_fcast_percentile	For Energy Release Component (ERC) Percentile
ec_fcast_trend	For Energy Release Component (ERC) Trend
bi	Obs Burning Index (BI)
bi_percentile	Obs Burning Index (BI) Percentile
bi_trend	Obs Burning Index (BI) Trend
bi_fcast	For Burning Index (BI)
bi_fcast_percentile	For Burning Index (BI) Percentile
bi_fcast_trend	For Burning Index (BI) Trend
sl	Staffing Level
lr	Lightning Risk
lo	Lightning-caused Fire Occurrence Index
hr	Human-caused Risk NFDRS
ho	Human-caused Fire Occurrence index

The GOES-R PLT Washington D.C. Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) dataset consists of total lightning data measured from the Washington D.C. LMA (DCLMA) network during the GOES-R Post Launch Test (PLT) airborne science field campaign. The GOES-R PLT airborne science field campaign took place in support of the post-launch product validation of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). The LMA measures the arrival time of radiation from a lightning discharge at multiple stations and locates the sources of radiation to produce a three-dimensional map of total lightning activity. These data files are available in compressed ASCII files and are available from April 6, 2017 through June 1, 2017.

In 2023, severe convective storms caused the most expensive damage in the United States. Severe convective storms, for instance, caused overall losses of 72 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, wildfire, drought, and heatwaves, resulted in economic losses of 20 billion U.S. dollars. Tropical cyclone damage amounted to under five billion U.S. dollars in 2023, a significant dropdown from a previous high in 2022. Impact of severe thunderstorms in the U.S. Severe thunderstorms pose a great risk to public safety and often results in fatalities. People can be harmed in many ways during a thunderstorm, such as directly struck by lightning or hurt when a building collapses/tree falls down. In 2019, 70 people were killed as a result of severe thunderstorms. Lightning strikes alone caused 20 deaths and 100 injuries in that year. How much was paid out due to thunderstorms? The high risk of damage posed by thunderstorms means that insurance cover is an important tool in reducing the losses incurred. In 2020 alone, approximately 71,500 homeowner insurance claims were paid due to lightning losses.

United States Imports: Lightning Arresters, Voltage Limiters, Surge Suppres data was reported at 8.826 USD mn in Dec 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 9.032 USD mn for Nov 2022. United States Imports: Lightning Arresters, Voltage Limiters, Surge Suppres data is updated monthly, averaging 5.227 USD mn from Jan 2002 to Dec 2022, with 252 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.089 USD mn in Oct 2019 and a record low of 1.671 USD mn in Feb 2009. United States Imports: Lightning Arresters, Voltage Limiters, Surge Suppres data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by U.S. Census Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.JA111: Imports: by Commodity: by 6 Digit HS Code: HS 85 to 99.

"This project 19ENG02 FutureEnergy has received funding from the EMPIR programme co-financed by the Participating States and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme"