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.

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.

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.

This file contains 1999 daily lightning activity data for the state of New Mexico. These data were collected by a network of lightning detection stations scattered throughout the western United States. More information regarding the LLP Lightning Locating System can be found in Maier et al. (1983).

This file contains 1989 daily lightning activity data for the state of New Mexico. These data were collected by a network of lightning detection stations scattered throughout the western United States. More information regarding the LLP Lightning Locating System can be found in Maier et al. (1983).

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.

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.

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.

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.

The solid-state and other energy-efficient lighting market is driven by the growing need for solutions that prioritize energy conservation. This demand is driven by several sources. On the one hand, growing energy costs encourage individuals and companies to seek out lighting choices that use less electricity. Governments around the world are accelerating this transformation by enacting stronger energy rules. These restrictions not only penalize inefficient lighting practices but also provide incentives to use energy-saving technologies such as solid-state lighting. According to the analyst from Verified Market Research, the global solid-state and other energy-efficient lighting market is estimated to reach a valuation of USD 243.52 Billion over the forecast 2031, subjugating around USD 174.41 Billion in 2023.

As a result, increased awareness of the environmental impact of traditional lighting solutions is driving a market shift toward more energy-efficient options. Consumers are becoming more aware of the environmental benefits of solid-state lighting. Solid-state technology, particularly LEDs, has much lower energy usage than incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. This results in a lower carbon footprint and is consistent with growing environmental concerns. As a result, the market for solid-state and other energy-efficient lighting is expanding rapidly, propelled by a combination of economic and environmental factors. This surge in demand enables the market to grow at a CAGR of 4.70% from 2024 to 2031.

Solid-State And Other Energy-Efficient Lighting Market: Definition/ Overview

Solid-state lighting (SSL) is a major advancement in illumination technology, providing a far more efficient and versatile alternative to existing lighting technologies. Unlike incandescent bulbs, which rely on heating a filament to produce light, SSL technologies use solid-state semiconductors to directly turn electricity into light. This basic difference results in a significant gain in energy efficiency. LEDs, the dominating technology in SSL, may attain an efficiency of more than 100 lumens per watt, compared to only 15 lumens per watt for incandescent bulbs. This equates to huge energy savings, resulting in cheaper electricity bills and a smaller environmental footprint.

Beyond efficiency, SSL has several advantages over traditional lighting. LEDs have much longer lifespans than incandescent bulbs, lasting tens of thousands of hours. This leads to lower maintenance expenses and less frequent bulb replacement. Additionally, SSL technologies provide improved controllability. Unlike incandescent bulbs, LEDs’ light output and color temperature can be precisely altered, allowing for dynamic lighting solutions tailored to specific demands. This enables the creation of more comfortable and functional lighting conditions in a variety of applications, including offices, homes, industrial settings, and outdoor spaces.

Tornado TracksThis feature layer, utilizing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), displays tornadoes in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands between 1950 and 2022. A tornado track shows the route of a tornado. Per NOAA, "A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. Because wind is invisible, it is hard to see a tornado unless it forms a condensation funnel made up of water droplets, dust and debris. Tornadoes can be among the most violent phenomena of all atmospheric storms we experience. The most destructive tornadoes occur from supercells, which are rotating thunderstorms with a well-defined radar circulation called a mesocyclone. (Supercells can also produce damaging hail, severe non-tornadic winds, frequent lightning, and flash floods.)"EF-5 Tornado Track (May 3, 1999) near Oklahoma City, OklahomaData currency: December 30, 2022Data source: Storm Prediction CenterData modifications: Added fields Calculated Month and DateFor more information: Severe Weather 101 - Tornadoes; NSSL Research: TornadoesSupport documentation: SPC Tornado, Hail, and Wind Database Format SpecificationFor feedback, please contact: ArcGIScomNationalMaps@esri.comNational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationPer NOAA, its mission is "To understand and predict changes in climate, weather, ocean, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources."

U.S. Surge Protection Devices Market size was valued at USD 686.02 Million in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 1,168.50 Million by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 6.99% from 2024 to 2031.

U.S. Surge Protection Devices Market Overview

Surge protectors are the gatekeepers of electronic devices because they block and map high-voltage spikes. Surge protectors help provide only the limited voltage your machine can handle. It also tends to stop the voltage spike, but there are better ways to protect electrical equipment from nearby lightning strikes. It may take a long time before the equipment is interrupted or damaged due to the effects of the surge. SPDs are typically installed inside consumer units to protect electrical installations. Nevertheless, various SPD types are available to cover buildings from phone lines and other incoming services such as cable TV. It is important to remember that protecting only electrical installations and not other equipment may leave alternative routes for transient voltages entering the building. Surge protectors are most prevalent in North America. Electrical Surge Control Devices play an important role in protecting the electrical circuits, home appliances, industrial electrical equipment, high-tech gadgets, and the rest of the others from electrical surges. Such devices help in preventing damage to electrical appliances and devices in the residential areas. An electrical fire can be easily caused due to sparkling caused in the electrical circuits because of electrical surges.

Increasing stringent regulations by government and other organizations, and implementation of residential safety standards across the United States are creating better opportunities for the market to grow over forecasted period. Implementation of fire safety standards in residential apartments is very important as the residential area comprises larger percentage of population. Thus, government of various countries are taking the initiatives to build stringent regulations in the construction of buildings to implement fire safety standards. The increasing demand for protection systems in electronic appliances and the adoption of alternative energy programs are driving U.S. Surge Protection Devices Market. The growing demand for smart power strips is also one of the major factors accentuating the market growth. Customers’ demand for Wi-Fi-enabled power strips is high due to their ability to set schedules and timers and automatically monitor energy usage. The increased use of consumer gadgets such as cellphones, laptops, and home entertainment systems raises the need for surge protection devices to protect these investments. Industrial facilities require surge protection to ensure that machinery and equipment run continuously, decreasing downtime and maintenance expenses.

For instance, in the United States, the National Electrical Code, published and sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association of Quincy, Massachusetts, is updated every three years to reflect rapid technological progress. The code was recently updated to the 2020 edition, and the revision includes new requirements for providing whole-home surge protection. The new rules apply to new homes and will also apply to existing ones once service panels are updated. The revised National Electrical Code protects against electrical surges for household appliances, electronic equipment, and computers. Apart from that, the properties of surge protectors that only cover against spikes and do not close out lightning strikes may hinder the market as unstable environmental conditions drive the population to demand 2-in-1 options for housing.

TornadoesThis feature layer, utilizing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), displays tornadoes in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands between 1950 and 2022. Per NOAA, "A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. Because wind is invisible, it is hard to see a tornado unless it forms a condensation funnel made up of water droplets, dust and debris. Tornadoes can be among the most violent phenomena of all atmospheric storms we experience. The most destructive tornadoes occur from supercells, which are rotating thunderstorms with a well-defined radar circulation called a mesocyclone. (Supercells can also produce damaging hail, severe non-tornadic winds, frequent lightning, and flash floods.)"EF-5 Tornado (May 22, 2011) near Joplin, MissouriData currency: December 30, 2022Data source: Storm Prediction CenterData modifications: Added fields Calculated Month and DateFor more information: Severe Weather 101 - Tornadoes; NSSL Research: TornadoesSupport documentation: SPC Tornado, Hail, and Wind Database Format SpecificationFor feedback, please contact: ArcGIScomNationalMaps@esri.comNational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationPer NOAA, its mission is "To understand and predict changes in climate, weather, ocean, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources."

In California, 65,276 people were employed by the Energy Star program and the efficient lighting industries in 2021. California has the most employees in the U.S. energy efficiency sector. In the same year, over 168,000 people were employed in the in the HVAC and renewable heating and cooling industry.

Oregon saw the largest area burned by wildfires across the United States in 2024. That year, about 2,232 individual wildfires burned in the northwestern state, ravishing almost 1.89 million acres. Texas followed second, with roughly 1.3 million acres burned due to wildfires that year. Fire season 2021 and California’s wildfire suppression costs As one of the most wildfire-prone states in the country, California spends a significant amount of money on their suppression. Estimates suggest wildfire suppression expenditure in California climbed to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in the fiscal year ending June 2022. The fiscal year, which includes the summer and fall months of 2021, was among the most devastating fire seasons on record, with that year’s Dixie fire becoming the second-largest California wildfire by acres burned. The Dixie fire was responsible for over 963,000 acres burned across the state that year. Wildfire causes Wildfires are uncontrolled fires burning across any type of combustible vegetation such as grass- and brushland, forests, and agricultural fields. They are also referred to as wildland fires, forest fires, or bushfires, with the latter term particularly common in Australia. Wildfires regularly occur on all continents of the world, except for Antarctica, but are particularly common in dry regions with dense vegetation. As the rise in average global temperatures is changing weather patterns and resulting in more and more countries being affected by dry, hot weather conditions, the severity and rapid spread of wildfires have increased in recent years. The most common causes of wildfires are natural phenomena such as lightning strikes as well as human activity. The area burned due to human-caused wildfires in the U.S. surpassed 1.5 million acres in 2023.

In 2022, the Indian state of Bihar saw the highest number of deaths due to extreme weather events in the country, with a total of 418 fatalities. This was followed by the state of Assam, but by a wide margin, with 257 lives lost. That year, the deadliest extreme weather events in India were lightning and thunderstorms.

The Baltimore radar rainfall dataset was developed from a multi-sensor analysis combining radar rainfall estimates from the Sterling, VA WSR88D radar (KLWX) with measurements from a collection of ground based rain gages. The archived data have a 15-minute time resolution and a grid resolution of 0.01 degree latitude/longitude (approximately 1 km x 1 km); 15-minute rainfall accumulations for each grid are in mm. The dataset spans 22 years, 2000-2021, and covers an area of approximately 4,900 km^2 (70 by 70 grids, each with approximate area of 1 km^2) surrounding the Baltimore, MD metropolitan area (Figure 1). The rainfall data cover the six months from April to September of each year. This is the period with most intense sub-daily rainfall and the period for which radar measurements are most accurate. Figure 1 illustrates the climatological analyses of mean annual frequency of days with at least 1 hour rainfall exceeding 25 mm. The striking spatial variability of convective rainfall is illustrated in Figure 2 by the April-September climatology of annual lightning strikes.

As with many long-term environmental data sets, sensor technology has changed during the time period of the archive. The Sterling, VA WSR88D radar underwent a hardware upgrade from single polarization to dual polarization in 2012. Prior to the upgrade, rainfall was estimated using a conventional radar-reflectivity algorithm (HydroNEXRAD) which converts reflectivity measurements in polar coordinates from the lowest sweep to rainfall estimates on a 0.01 degree latitude-longitude grid at the surface (see Seo et al. 2010 and Smith et al. 2012 for details on the algorithm). The polarimetric upgrade introduced new measurements into the radar-rainfall algorithm. In addition to reflectivity, the operational rainfall product, Digital Precipitation Rate (DPR), directly uses differential reflectivity and specific differential phase shift measurements to estimate rainfall (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.ncdc:C00708; see also Giangrande and Ryzhkov 2008). Details of the algorithm structure and parameterization for the DPR radar-rainfall estimates have been modified during the 10-year period of the data set.

A storm-based (daily) multiplicative mean field bias has been applied to both datasets. The mean field bias is computed as the ratio of daily rain gage rainfall at a point to daily radar rainfall for the bin that contains the gage. The rain gage dataset is compiled from rain gages in the Baltimore metropolitan region and surrounding areas and includes gages acquired from both Baltimore City and Baltimore County, and the Global Historical Climatology Network daily (GHCNd). Mean field bias improves rainfall estimates and diminishes the impacts of changing measurement procedures.

The dataset has been archived in 2 formats: netCDF gridded rainfall, 1 file for each 15-minute time period, and csv or excel format point rainfall (1 point at the center of each grid) in a timeseries format with 1 file per calendar month covering the entire 70x70 domain. The csv files are in folders organized by calendar year. The first five columns in each file represent year, month, day, hour, and minute and can be combined to generate a unique date-time value for each time step. Each additional column is a complete time series for the month and represents data from one of the 1-km2 grid cells in the original data set.

The latitude and longitude coordinates for each pixel in the grid are provided. The latitude and longitude represent the centroid of the cell, which is square when represented in latitude and longitude coordinates and rectangular when represented in other distance-based coordinate systems such as State Plane or Universal Transverse Mercator. There are 4900 pixels in the domain. In order to visualize the data using GIS or other software, the user needs to associate each column in the annual rainfall file with the latitude and longitude values for that grid cell number.

These data may be subject to modest revision or reformatting in future versions. The current version is version 2.0 and is being offered to users who wish to explore the data. We will revise this document as needed.

This file contains 1986 daily lightning activity data for the state of New Mexico. These data were collected by a network of lightning detection stations scattered throughout the western United States. More information regarding the LLP Lightning Locating System can be found in Maier et al. (1983).

Between 1911 and August 2021, roughly 17 million people were affected by wildfires worldwide. Wildfires are unplanned fires occurring in forested areas and most commonly caused by human activity or lightning strikes. Dry conditions worsened by global warming have increased the risk of uncontrollable wildfires for multiple regions such as Australia, the Mediterranean, and Western United States. The death toll due to wildfires stands at 4,545 people, with the 2021 Kabylia fires in Algeria the most recent in a list of most severe wildfires by number of fatalities.