Artificial Intelligence Can Now Predict Where Lightning Will Strike

Scientists on Friday said they have developed a simple and inexpensive artificial intelligence (AI) system that can predict when lightning will strike any place within a 30-kilometre radius, up to 30 minutes in advance. Lightning -- one of the most unpredictable phenomena in nature -- regularly kills people and animals and sets fire to homes and forests. It keeps aircraft grounded and damages power lines, wind turbines and solar-panel installations. However, little is known about what triggers lightning, and there is no simple technology for predicting when and where lightning will strike the ground, noted the researchers from Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. The new system, described in the journal Climate and Atmospheric Science, uses a combination of standard meteorological data and artificial intelligence.