Louisiana's parishes with the most lightning strikes
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Assumption Parish is the lightning capital of Louisiana, per weather data firm Vaisala Xweather.
Why it matters: Aside from the immediate danger to people, aircraft and infrastructure, lightning can spark wildfires — and the number of strikes is predicted to increase amid climate change, researchers have found.
The big picture: Assumption Parish had 145,591 lightning strikes recorded in 2024, per Vaisala Xweather's report.
- St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, Ascension, St. Martin, Calcasieu and Lafayette parishes also ranked in the country's top 100 counties or parishes in terms of lightning strikes per square mile.
- Texas, Florida and Oklahoma are America's lightning capitals.
Zoom in: Summer storms — with lightning and booming thunder — are a regular part of life in New Orleans.
- The typical summer pattern is hot and humid, with rain in the afternoon. But Mother Nature has been mixing it up lately.
- "Rain in the morning, rain in the evening, rain at supper time," the National Weather Service in Slidell said in a recent forecast note. "When we are in this type of pattern we can have rain at any time."
How it works: Vaisala Xweather's data comes from sensors that use radio waves to detect and triangulate lightning strikes, with a claimed median accuracy of 84 meters (just under 300 feet).
- The data includes both cloud-to-ground and in-cloud lightning.