Central Africa is recognised as the most active lightning region on the planet. This five-day animation shows the continuous lightning activity in the region. Most of the time, especially during the afternoon and evening hours, thunderstorms cover a considerable part of the area.
Both localised storms – small, isolated regions of lightning activity – and large mesoscale convective systems – large clusters and long narrow bands of lightning activity – can be seen. The storms are moving gradually westwards in the general easterly airflow, a characteristic of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).
Sun glint can be seen moving in the top-right corner of the animation every day before noon. This animation, zooming in on central Africa, was made using data from the Meteosat Third Generation Lightning Imager’s east camera, from 00:00 UTC 7 June to 23:59 UTC 11 June 2023. It was made from raw preliminary data and is not for operational use.