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10.1 million lightning strikes in one electrifying week

Australia was lit up like the proverbial Christmas Tree last week, with an incredible 10.1 million lightning strikes across the country up until midnight on Sunday.

The widespread electricial storms were caused by an influx of tropical moisture which spread southwards across the country – meaning it wasn't just areas affected by the northern wet season which saw torrential downpours and lightning flashes.

Image: Lightning density across Australia in the week ending December 8, 2024.

The image above shows where the lightning occurred last week. As you can see, it was pretty much nationwide – with the exception of most of Tasmania, the western portion of WA, and the odd smallish patch in other states and territories.

Compare that with the map below, which shows the incidence of lightning strikes across Australia over the last ten years.

Image: Lightning density over the last 10 years in Australia, with colours showing the showing average pulses per square kilometre per year.

In the second map, the areas of darker blue, purple and pink mean more lightning strikes on average each year. As you can see, Australia's vast, dry interior usually sees a lot less lightning than other parts of the country on average.

But last week, the interior of Australia saw more than its fair share, which illustrates how tropical moisture spread far beyond the tropics. Throw in summer heat and a broad trough of low pressure and you had all the elements in place for explosive storms.

In the big picture, 10.1 million lightning strikes Australia-wide is a lot in a week.

We wrote a story in late November about a highly charged Sunday when 2.5 million strikes were recorded across Australia.

That was a lot for one day, but to average more than 1.4 million per day over the course of an entire week (as we saw last week) was perhaps even more remarkable.

Meanwhile more storms are on the cards for parts of Australia this week, and indeed storms are currently lighting up skies over several states as we head into Monday evening.

But overall, lightning strikes won't be as frequent or widespread as last week, with a drier airmass set to park itself over southern and central parts of the continent for much of the week.