Lightning Storms

On average, about 2000 worldwide deaths from lightning strikes occur per annum (Gill, 2006). South Africa is considered to be a country prone to high lightning-related deaths with 100 to 300 deaths recorded per year, a number which is staggeringly high compared to the rest of the world. In the 1970s and 1980s, lightning ground-flash densities (flashes over a one year period, averaged by the countries landmass per km2) were measured by the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) at nearly 400 lightning counters placed all over South Africa and Namibia. The following map is based on these measurements.

Source: SA Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (SARVA), 1994. Lightning Ground-Flash Density after CSIR. [Online]. Available from the SARVA website.