Weather API - Lightning Strike Density

URL Path

https://data.api.xweather.com/lightning/density/

Data Coverage

Global

Update Interval

N/A

Time Range

N/A

The Lightning Strike Density endpoint provides long-term lightning climatology by exposing the average number of lightning strikes occurring within a geographic area. The dataset represents the annual average lightning strike density calculated from 10 years of historical lightning observations.

Lightning density is a widely used metric for understanding how frequently lightning occurs in a given region. It is commonly used in engineering design, infrastructure risk assessment, and environmental planning to evaluate exposure to lightning hazards. This endpoint provides access to this information through a simple API interface that returns lightning strike density for a specific location.

The dataset currently represents 10 years of averaged lightning activity, allowing users to understand long-term lightning behavior rather than short-term storm variability. This type of climatology is often used for applications such as infrastructure design standards, asset risk assessment, and renewable energy planning.

Lightning density returned by this endpoint includes the following strike categories:

Cloud-to-Ground (CG)
Lightning strokes that terminate on the ground. These events are typically the most relevant for infrastructure damage and engineering risk assessments.
In-Cloud (IC)
Lightning events that occur within a thunderstorm cloud and do not reach the ground.
Total Lightning (ALL)
The combined total of IC and CG lightning activity.

Together, these metrics provide a broader understanding of thunderstorm activity in a region and allow users to evaluate both ground strike exposure and overall lightning climatology.

The endpoint returns lightning density values expressed as average strikes per square kilometer per year, derived from the underlying long-term dataset.

Requests

Every request to the endpoint must include one of the supported actions in the url.

https://data.api.xweather.com/lightning/density/{action}?client_id={client_id}&client_secret={client_secret}&{params}

Supported Actions

The following actions are supported with the /lightning/density endpoint:

Action	Description
:id	Type: stringTypically used for passing a geographical location name or identifier such as city name, lat/long, or even US and Canadian postal codes. Learn more.

Response

The following is an example of what each object in the response will consist of. Depending on your requested action, the response may contain multiple instances of this object within an array.

Properties

id (string)

dataSource (string)

loc (object)

The location of the record.

loc.lat (number)

The latitude coordinate of the record.

loc.long (number)

The place or nearest place to the record.

place (object)

Object containing information about the place or nearest place to the record.

place.name (string)

The place or nearest place to the record.

place.state (string)

The state abbreviation in which the response is located. This may be null or an empty string depending on the country.

place.country (string)

The 2 letter ISO-3166 country abbreviation in which the response is located.

resolutionM (number)

Spatial resolution of the dataset in meters^2, representing the size of each grid cell used to calculate lightning density.

periods (array)

Array of time periods representing the historical interval used to compute lightning density statistics.

periods.#.minTimestamp (number)

Unix timestamp marking the start of the dataset time range.

periods.#.minDateTimeISO (string)

ISO 8601 formatted start date and time of the dataset period.

periods.#.maxTimestamp (number)

Unix timestamp marking the end of the dataset time range.

periods.#.maxDateTimeISO (string)

ISO 8601 formatted end date and time of the dataset period.

periods.#.months (number)

Total number of months included in the historical averaging period.

periods.#.density (object)

Lightning strike density values averaged over the period, expressed as strikes per square kilometer per year.

periods.#.density.cg (number)

Average annual cloud-to-ground lightning strike density per square kilometer.

periods.#.density.ic (number)

Average annual in-cloud lightning strike density per square kilometer.

periods.#.density.all (number)

Total average annual lightning strike density per square kilometer (cloud-to-ground plus in-cloud).

profile (object)

Object containing information about the location or event.

profile.tz (string)

Timezone name of the location, such as America/New_York.

response.json

{
  "success": true,
  "error": null,
  "response": [
    {
      "id": "799tmmm",
      "dataSource": "xweather",
      "loc": {
        "lat": 44.92496,
        "long": -93.46273
      },
      "place": {
        "name": "hopkins",
        "state": "mn",
        "country": "us"
      },
      "resolutionM": 2500,
      "periods": [
        {
          "minTimestamp": 1451606400,
          "minDateTimeISO": "2016-01-01T00:00:00+00:00",
          "maxTimestamp": 1767225599,
          "maxDateTimeISO": "2025-12-31T23:59:59+00:00",
          "months": 120,
          "density": {
            "cg": 13,
            "ic": 25,
            "all": 38
          }
        }
      ],
      "profile": {
        "tz": "America/Chicago"
      }
    }
  ]
}