Lightning activity in Canadian cities

A cloud to ground lightning strike hits an urban area. © Environment Canada

Want to know how frequent cloud-to-ground lightning flashes are where you live? Have a look for your city or town’s statistics below:

Statistics by province

Please note that:

The study period was from 1999 to 2018.
Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes are calculated within a 25 km radius of the centre of each city.
The “average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)” in this study refers to the average annual number of days in which one would expect to detect lightning within 25 km of the centre of the city.
It’s important to note that a city may have more lightning strikes than another city, but the cities may have the same number of days with lightning. The difference has to do with the strength and duration of each storm. One city may have storms that last longer and therefore would have more lightning strikes detected in one day than the other city.
The centre of each city was determined using Google Earth.

Find your city

British Columbia

Lightning activity in British Columbia
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Prince George	9,499	32.9
Williams Lake	8,973	31.5
Coquitlam	2,200	14.9
Cranbrook	14,680	33.9
Kelowna	6,624	24.6
Vernon	7,253	24.5
Burnaby	1,775	13.9
Abbotsford	1,665	13
Penticton	7,562	24.4
Revelstoke	6,747	26.6
Langley	1,587	11.8
Chilliwack	2,165	11.9
Vancouver	1,663	12.8
Kamloops	7,642	23.1
Surrey	1,503	11.6
Richmond	1,263	10.4
Fort St. John	12,107	25.4
Fort Nelson	11,315	27.8
Nanaimo	1,300	7.0
Smithers	1,858	9.8
Campbell River	711	6.2
Dease Lake	1,575	10.2
Courtenay	651	5.6
Terrace	756	4.5
Victoria	686	3.6
Prince Rupert	152	2.6
Castlegar	15,225	36.5
Dawson Creek	16,383	25.3

Alberta

Lightning Activity in Alberta
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Calgary	25,268	38.2
Airdrie	25,449	37.6
Red Deer	29,150	36.6
Edmonton	32,811	36.9
St. Albert	32,538	36.1
Slave Lake	27,752	32.1
Fort McMurray	22,290	33.0
Medicine Hat	18,059	29.2
Lloydminster	27,830	30.2
Lethbridge	15,942	26.1
Grand Prairie	17,094	26.7
High Level	12,029	27.2
Brooks	18,527	29.3
Hinton	24,563	40.2
Edson	45,124	46.8

Saskatchewan

Lightning Activity in Saskatchewan
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Estevan	54,025	33.7
Regina	32,853	30.1
Swift Current	26,437	31.0
Moose Jaw	32,112	31.0
Yorkton	32,249	29.4
Prince Albert	23,461	28.2
Saskatoon	22,340	27.0
North Battleford	21,061	28.0
La Ronge	17,937	28.8
Key Lake	9,120	20.9
Kindersley	27,071	30.4

Manitoba

Lightning Activity in Manitoba
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Steinbach	39,107	34.5
Portage la Prairie	39,383	34.8
Brandon	42,228	32.8
Winnipeg	37,194	32.1
Dauphin	23,420	28.8
The Pas	19,531	26.8
Flin Flon	17,586	24.8
Norway House	14,603	23.1
Thompson	13,338	21.2
Gillam	10,810	18.1
Lynn Lake	7,975	17.4
Churchill	5,020	9.2

Ontario

Lightning Activity in Ontario
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Windsor	109,776	50.1
Chatham-Kent	101,168	47.1
London	94,647	44.1
Sarnia	96,148	43.8
Stratford	77,694	43.3
Hamilton	69,873	39.5
Mississauga	58,325	39.7
Toronto	56,139	40.5
Brampton	57,421	39.6
Brantford	74,578	40.9
Kitchener	66,639	40.5
St. Catharines	57,023	39.2
Vaughan	60,421	40.5
Markham	61,968	39.3
Peterborough	51,458	34.7
Owen Sound	49,114	34.0
Oshawa	46,883	35.0
Cobourg	40,207	33.0
Barrie	42,534	34.2
Ottawa	38,452	33.4
Belleville	36,470	32.7
Fort Frances	37,356	34.9
Kingston	29,699	30.9
Brockville	31,585	32.0
Cornwall	33,832	30.3
Kenora	27,379	32.8
Pembroke	27,693	30.0
Sault Ste. Marie	23,599	29.3
North Bay	23,364	29.2
Sudbury	20,759	26.8
Thunder Bay	18,543	28.4
Moosonee	13,354	21.7
Timmins	13,679	25.7
Geraldton	14,388	24.0
Sioux Lookout	19,469	30.2
Big Trout Lake	11,369	19.0

Quebec

Lightning Activity in Quebec
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Laval	33,633	32.1
Metro Gatineau	38,503	33.2
Longueuil	37,625	32.5
Montréal	37,189	32.5
Terrebonne	34,390	31.9
Saint Jérôme	28,992	31.3
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	32,574	29.7
Maniwaki	28,944	29.6
Joliette	28,503	29.9
Saint-Hyacinthe	36,380	30.6
Shawinigan	28,063	28.4
Trois Rivières	25,799	28.8
Drummondville	29,923	30.1
Sherbrooke	26,309	29.3
Lévis	22,259	28.5
Québec City	22,348	28.4
Rouyn-Noranda	19,900	26.5
Val D'Or	22,593	25.8
Alma	13,519	24.4
Greater Saguenay	13,741	23.8
Chibougamau	8,903	21.7
Rivière-du-Loup	9,126	19.8
Rimouski	8,072	16.2
Baie-Comeau	5,312	13.2
Sept-Îsles	2,804	11.2

New Brunswick

Lightning Activity in New Brunswick
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Edmundston	22,294	22.3
Miramichi	14,603	20.3
Fredericton	14,735	19.7
Saint John	8,664	15.8
Moncton	12,124	17.6
Grand Falls	21,125	24.5
Bathurst	13,453	18.7
Charlo	10,450	19.8

Nova Scotia

Lightning Activity in Nova Scotia
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Yarmouth	11,504	15.2
Truro	8,378	14.2
Kentville	9,621	12.9
Halifax	7,351	12.8
New Glasgow	8,028	14.2
Sydney	5,107	9.7

Prince Edward Island

Lightning Activity in Prince Edward Island
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Summerside	9,415	14.3
Charlottetown	10,629	13.7

Newfoundland and Labrador

Lightning Activity in Newfoundland and Labrador
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Labrador City	1,746	10.1
Grand Falls-Windsor	3,314	7.8
Corner Brook	2,844	7.9
Goose Bay	1,399	7.0
Gander	2,905	6.7
Conception Bay South	785	4.6
Mount Pearl	688	4.4
Paradise	717	4.2
St. John’s	702	4.1
Churchill Falls	1,787	8.3

Nunavut

Lightning Activity in Nunavut
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Arviat	456	4.0

Northwest Territories

Lightning Activity in Northwest Territories
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Fort Smith	8,356	19.7
Fort Simpson	5,188	17.1
Norman Wells	2,224	10.5
Yellowknife	1,972	7.2
Inuvik	396	2.8

Yukon

Lightning Activity in Yukon
City	Total cloud-to-ground lightning flashes from 1999-2018	Average number of days with lightning (within 25 km)
Watson Lake	2,153	15.1
Dawson	2,551	16.8
Carmacks	2,113	15.1
Whitehorse	960	8.0
Old Crow	730	5.3
Beaver Creek	2,398	15.7

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Date modified:: 2019-08-27

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