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For many years, Florida has been described as the lighting capital of the United States. Its unique location, surrounded by warm water, provides everything needed for thunderstorms to form – especially during the summer. The record has surprisingly never been disputed – until now.
Image credit: Flickr / Skyseeker
Vaisala, a Finnish environmental monitoring company, found that Oklahoma has had slightly more lightning bolts per square kilometer over the last five years. The margin was slim. Florida’s 82.8 strikes per kilometer over the last five years barely edged Oklahoma’s 83.4 flashes, according to Vaisala’s estimations. Still, it’s significant and probably enough to crown Oklahoma as the lightning state.