Status: 07/29/2021 1:39 p.m.
In the north and deep in the south, there was lightning most frequently last year – a little more than in 2019. There was less lightning damage nationwide – but it caused more expensive damage.
The lightning strike in Germany last year mainly took place in the north and south of the country. The center of Germany was virtually excluded from thunderstorm fronts, says Stephan Thern, head of the lightning information service at Siemens. “The fact that the front runners are increasingly to be found in the north is a development that we have only observed in recent years.”
Wolfsburg is the “lightning capital”
Accordingly, Wolfsburg is the German “lightning capital”. There were 5.8 impacts per square kilometer there last year – more than in any other urban or rural district, according to measurements by the lightning information service. In second and third place, the Blitzatlas leads the city of Kempten and the district of Miesbach in Bavaria with 5.1 and 4.7 lightning bolts per square kilometer.
The lightning-richest day was June 13, 2020 with more than 89,000 impacts. In total, there were almost 400,000 impacts in Germany last year – around 21 percent more than in 2019, which was, however, an extremely lightning-free year. In 2007, for example, there were more than a million impacts.
Last year, however, it was too dry for such high values: Thunderstorms typically form at high temperatures and humidity. In the current year, on the other hand, the weather is again significantly more lightning. By midnight last Tuesday, there had been almost as many lightning bolts as there were in all of 2020.
Less damage reported – more expensive
Last year’s lightning strikes led to around 200,000 reported claims at German insurers. There are fewer than ever since statistics were introduced in 1998, as the industry association GDV explains.
However, at 1300 euros, the average damage is higher than ever. This is due to the increasingly better technical equipment in houses and households. The bottom line is that the amount of damage has increased by 10 to 260 million euros since 2019.
Highest lightning density in Hamburg
According to Siemens, last year the highest lightning density by federal states was in Hamburg with 1.9 per square kilometer, followed by Bavaria with 1.6 and Lower Saxony with 1.4. The lightning-poorest countries last year were Hesse and Thuringia with 0.6 each and Bremen with 0.5.
Last year Coburg and Bamberg were largely safe from lightning. In the two cities with the lowest lightning strike, only one or two lightning strikes were measured in the whole year. This corresponds to densities of 0.02 and 0.04, respectively. Mainz was in third place with 0.09 lightning bolts per square kilometer.
Italy, Slovenia and Croatia lead Europe
Europe-wide, the triangle of Italy, Slovenia and Croatia led the lightning rankings in 2020 with values of eight to ten lightning strikes per square kilometer. In Ireland and Scotland, on the other hand, it is only 0.3.
The lightning strikes are measured with the help of around 160 interconnected measuring stations in Europe. Although there are up to 350 kilometers between the sensors, the lightning strikes can be determined with an accuracy of up to 50 meters.