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Hong Kong Observatory
of Hong Kong, China.
  Global distribution of thunderstorms - Explanatory notes
 
Thunderstorm web page features
When a station reported thunderstorm, a symbol would be shown on the world map on the front page. Symbols of different shapes and colours are used to indicate whether the observation was reported in the most recent synoptic hour or reported 6, 12, 18 or 24 hours earlier.
reported at the latest synoptic hour;
reported 6 hours earlier;
reported 12 hours earlier;
reported 18 hours earlier;
reported 24 hours earlier.
 
In the zoom-in maps, lightning icons are used to indicate the location of thunderstorm occurrence. Different types of thunderstorms are indicated by different icons:
Types of thunderstorm at latest synoptic hour 6 hours earlier 12 hours earlier 18 hours earlier 24 hours earlier
slight or moderate thunderstorm
heavy thunderstorm
thunderstorm with hail
thunderstorm with dust-storm or sand-storm
heavy thunderstorm with hail
 
Clicking or putting the mouse cursor over a thunderstorm icon will open a window showing the reporting station(s) around that location. List of stations reporting thunderstorms in the past 24 hours, the corresponding country and the location of the stations in latitude and longitude units, and the type of thunderstorm could be viewed by clicking on the corresponding links below the map.
 
Source of data
The weather observations are extracted from Members' SYNOP reports submitted to WMO through the GTS.
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