PHOENIX — A few isolated storms may be sticking around across our state, but the monsoon is officially over! With a strong showing for precipitation, the 2022 season also brought loads of lightning strikes.
Data released by the Arizona State Climatologist showed that almost every county had above-average numbers of lightning strikes. Cochise County was this year's winner with an impressive jump above average.
>> Editor's note: The above video is from a previously aired broadcast.
Residents in Maricopa, Gila, Pima, and Pinal Counties saw less lightning than usual, but not by much. Overall, it was still an active Monsoon season in those areas, with many seeing above-average precipitation.
Maricopa County was down 2% from the average number of lightning strikes with 23,578 strikes recorded. That fits with the reduced amount of precipitation that the Phoenix metro area has been receiving.
Cochise County saw 28% more lightning strikes than normal, totaling 55,649 this summer.
Coconino County had the highest total count, with 77,019 strikes recorded. That's still 5% above average for the county. Given the area's high elevation and frequent storms, it's not surprising that Coconino tends to have the most lightning out of all our counties.
The climatologist's office also tweeted out a map of how much more precipitation we saw this year compared to the average. Just look at how much more western and northeastern Arizona got!
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You can find a full list of how many lightning strikes your county got, and what percent of the average number of strikes that added up to here:
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