Is Southwest Florida prone to so much lightning all summer long? (Tampa: house, neighborhood)

[LifeIsGood01]

I moved from the southeast coast of Florida in January and I don't remember them having so many thunderstorms over there, we had the normal summer afternoon showers but not with so much lightning. We had them later in the year, I remember the real strong ones is late September and October.

Is it a more vigorous lightning year or is this the norm here? My poor dogs are at their wits end.
Today the bursts were so strong I felt the house shake.

I have read that Tampa has been called the lightning capitol of the US, but are we a close second?

[Mr Cape Coral]

Orangetree Fl has over 200 flashes of lightning per square mile each year. That is the highest in the nation and is just Southeast of Ft Myers.

Like lightning? Head to Southwest Florida

Yes this is a high lightning area as it is produced by the large surrounding bodies of water.
https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/educa.../lightning.php

[froglipz]

Originally Posted by LifeIsGood01

I moved from the southeast coast of Florida in January and I don't remember them having so many thunderstorms over there, we had the normal summer afternoon showers but not with so much lightning. We had them later in the year, I remember the real strong ones is late September and October.

Is it a more vigorous lightning year or is this the norm here? My poor dogs are at their wits end.
Today the bursts were so strong I felt the house shake.

I have read that Tampa has been called the lightning capitol of the US, but are we a close second?

Get your dogs these, they actually DO work!
https://www.amazon.com/AKC-American-...thundershirt+s

[don1945]

I don't mind hard rain or wind, but lightning scares the heck out of me. We sure have been getting our share of very close strikes lately.

Don

[NoSnow4me]

This is only my third summer here, so I'm not in a position to say what's normal, but it actually seems less thunderstormy than the last two so far.

We would have bought a house in Orangetree if it weren't for the fact that there were no fences allowed in the neighborhood. That house was perfect except for that. I was glad it didn't work out after I saw that report that it tops the nation in lightning strikes.

[NoSnow4me]

Originally Posted by LifeIsGood01

I have read that Tampa has been called the lightning capitol of the US, but are we a close second?

Nope. Tampa is a close second to us.

Fort Myers tops United States with most days of thunderstorms

[LifeIsGood01]

Thanks everyone for the responses, I will look into getting a thundershirt for my dog.

[NoSnow4me]

Unfortunately, the thundershirt doesn't seem to do anything to help my dog. My vet said to give him Benadryl when the storm is on its way, and that does seem to help quite a bit.

***I'm not a vet, and have no way to know what dose and/or other circumstances might weigh into this for your dog. Please talk to your vet about it before going that route.***

[Sweetbottoms]

what we are experiencing now is MUCH less than in the past. In the 80's and 90's we had much more frequent storms and much more significant lighting. It has slowed down over the years. We could time the storm to the hour back then. Rollin at 4 and out by 5. I LOVE our storms .The more intense the better. It will definitely be one of the things I miss when I move away.

[Restrain]

Less than last year, but yep, lightning is normal. My dogs routinely end up by my feet when it gets real bad.