ENTLN Location Accuracy Case Study: Lightning Strikes One World Trade Center Spire
Lightning strikes One World Trade Center Spire Live On-Air
On Friday, June 4th, 2021, lightning struck the spire of One World Trade Center at the exact moment when ABC7 Meteorologist, Lee Goldberg, was live on-air giving his report. You can view the astonishing moment in the video below. Our Earth Networks Total Lightning Network recorded the strike with a location accuracy of within 200 meters! Read on to find out how the network performed.
ENTLN Location Accuracy
Our talented Earth Networks’ meteorologist, Steve Prinzivalli, investigated this lightning occurrence using Earth Networks’ lightning network data. Earth Networks has a robust lightning detection network in the Northeast, as well as domestically and abroad. Earth Networks’ Sferic Maps provides real-time weather alerts and situational awareness. Lee Goldberg went on-air at 4:48p ET (21:48 UTC), so we used Sferic Maps to search for the date and time of the lightning strike, using the query search “6/4/21 20:45-21:00 UTC (4:45p-5p ET).” The latitude and longitude of One World Trade Center is 40.711496/-74.012224, and we were able to use the following bounding box in Sferic Maps:
- Latitude: 40.7 to 40.8
- Longitude: -74.2 to -73.9
What were the results?
As expected, the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network detected that the Cloud-to-Ground (CG) pulse was in fact the only CG pulse occurring during the timeframe that Lee Goldberg was on-air, and the lightning struck the spire of One World Trade Center.
This data was collected using Earth Networks’ Historical Lightning Data Archive, which makes it easy to analyze past lightning events. The data metrics of this lightning strike detected by our ENTLN were the following:
- Latitude: 40.7129199
- Longitude: -74.01115
- UTC Time: 06/04/2021 20:49 UTC
- Peak Current: -40,738 Amps
- Location Accuracy: About 200 meters
The yellow strike represents the Cloud-to-Ground strike that hit the World Trade Center. The magenta strike symbols represent In-Cloud lightning strikes.
The yellow strike highlighted above is the Cloud-to-Ground strike that hit the World Trade Center on June 4, 2021.
Earth Networks’ location accuracy is first-rate when it comes to lightning detection. Our metrics and detection rates are extremely accurate both nationally and globally, as this World Trade Center case indicates. To learn more about our lightning detection network, take a look at our Lightning Tracker information.
Our mission is to provide weather data insights that drive critical action. To learn more about Earth Networks’ weather safety solutions, feel free to contact us below.
