Weather Gonten AI is the Swiss lightning hotspot
The Innerrhoden district of Gonten recorded the highest average number of lightning strikes per square kilometer in Switzerland last year. The second and third places were also occupied by Innerrhoden districts: namely Schwende-Rüte and Schlatt-Haslen.
18.05.2025, 23:00
SDA
Appenzell Innerrhoden was also the canton in which the highest lightning density was recorded, as announced by the Lightning Information Service (Blids) and Siemens Switzerland on Sunday. Two lightning strikes per square kilometer and year were recorded in the canton. In the lightning hotspot Gonten AI, on the other hand, there were 2.75 lightning strikes per square kilometer last year.
Meanwhile, the lowest lightning density in Switzerland for 2024 was recorded by the Lightning Information Service in the Conthey VS district with a value of 0.16 lightning events per square kilometer. Similarly low values were recorded in Boudry NE and Entremont VS.
In absolute terms, however, the highest number of ground lightning strikes - i.e. cloud-to-ground lightning strikes - was recorded in the canton of Bern: Almost 5000 strikes or twelve percent of all measured lightning events in Switzerland were recorded there. In absolute figures by district, Surselva GR was hit the hardest with almost 1,000 ground lightning strikes.
A total of 29,000 lightning strikes were recorded across Switzerland in 2024. Twelve percent fewer than in the previous year, according to the press release. The month with the most lightning was June with 9500 strikes, while the day with the most lightning was July 31 with 3200 strikes.
The evaluations of the Austrian Lightning Detection and Information System (Aldis) and the Blid are based on recordings from around 170 measuring stations in Europe.
