Lightning strikes have been wreaking havoc over the state of Odisha resulting in scores of deaths in past few days. While the death toll was 41 until August 1, six more people have lost their lives due to these lightning strikes. Around 12 districts in the state have been severely affected by lightning strikes.
Deaths have been reported in districts including Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Jharsuguda, Jajpur, and Kendrapara. In fact, between April 1 and June 23, more than 150 people have lost lives due to lightning strikes.
For detailed coverage on the incident by Earth Networks, click here
On July 28, a similar incident occurred in Bihar which claimed three lives. The same region was hit by a lightning strike on July 5 wherein 5 people were killed. In fact, on July 9, 2016 a GoAir Kolkata-New Delhi aircraft (G8 102) with 180 passengers made an emergency landing at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). The flight was hit by lightning which caused a cracked windshield in the aircraft.
For more information on the GoAir lightning incident and its path through storms shown by Earth Networks, check here
Such incidents not only occur in India but a lightning strike incident in the United States had caused an American Airlines Flight 4233 make an emergency landing at JFK.
In India, most number of deaths are reported due to lightning strikes as compared to any other natural disaster. Other hazards include asset damage, operational shut downs as well as compensation in terms of INR. Accurate tracking of lightning can help aviation industries, agriculture, mining and fire protection services and a lot more.
In India, the forecast for lightning strikes is not readily available. In fact, in-cloud lightning which is an early indicator of extreme weather gives a great insight into what’s in store in the near future and can help in averting mishaps.
The good news is that Earth Networks which has the largest lightning detection, climate and weather observation network in the world has exclusively partnered with Skymet Weather Services in India to provide the best lightning detection and severe weather nowcasting services available globally and an array of products and services to help protect lives and livelihoods.
These products include dangerous thunderstorm alerts (DTA), lightning proximity alerts, along with PulseRad, a radar alternative for areas with limited or no radar coverage.
Lightning strikes are shown using a flash symbol and thunderclouds are associated with colourful patches over a particular area. While the green colour depicts rain, yellow indicates the possibility of moderate rains. Meanwhile, the colour red indicates heavy rainfall forecast.
Earth Networks is responsible for detecting long range in-cloud lightning for forecasting severe weather conditions including cloud to ground lightning strikes, heavy rains during Monsoon, and even tropical cyclones.
The highly efficient lightning predictive capability of Earth Networks acts as a crucial tool for improving severe weather warning for the entire country.
“In recognizing the importance of lightning data to our clients, we took the decision to conduct a world-wide search for the best lightning detection network available globally and that which has been implemented and working successfully in varied climates in developed, developing and least-developed countries and then zeroed in on Earth Networks” said Jatin Singh, CEO, Skymet.”
Image Credit: guardian.co.uk
Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com
