ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — Are you a weather enthusiast? Love watching the skies? See if you can correctly guess this WFXR Weather Trivia question!
For 2022, which state was NOT in the top five for most lightning strikes per square mile?
According to Vaisala’s 2022 Annual Lightning Report, Texas was the state with the most lightning strikes that year. The Lone Star State recorded nearly 27.7 million strikes! However, geography played a part in this ranking. Typically, the larger the state, the more area there is for thunderstorms to develop.
If we track lightning by density and look at lightning strikes per square mile, Florida ranked first with about 285 lightning strikes per square mile in 2022. Here’s a look at the top five states with the highest frequency of lightning strikes:
- Florida
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Oklahoma
- Arkansas
South Dakota didn’t even make it into the top ten. Vaisala’s 2022 report ranked South Dakota 18th in the nation for lightning density.
Virginia ranked 23rd in the nation for lightning strikes per square mile. This was a decrease from 2021.
