Mr. Lightning

If you’ve ever looked for a Tucson postcard you were probably faced with three choices: Do I go with the saguaro, the spectacular sunset, or the striking lightning photo?

It’s common knowledge that Tucson is rife with suguaros and sunsets, but lesser known is that the city and surrounding area receive so many lightning strikes that scientists have established Tucson as the world leader in the field of lightning research. And that’s why Ron Holle, an Oro Valley resident, meteorologist and lightning junkie finds himself in Tucson; more specifically, at Vaisala, a manufacturer of lightning detection equipment.

Working with the National Lightning Detection Network, Holle has probably forgotten more about lightning than most people ever know. He can accurately pinpoint a cloud-to-ground strike thousands of miles away, not to mention the 50,000 to 80,000 strikes that occur in Pima County each year. “That’s a lot of lightning,” he says. “In the entire state we get around two-thirds of a million flashes a year.”

Holle’s career began at Florida State University, where he earned a B.S. and M.S. in meteorology, before moving on to U. of Florida for graduate work in thunderstorm convection. It was a natural progression, he says, into tracking lightning. His work has taken him to research laboratories in Silver Spring, Md., Boulder, Colo., and Norman, Okla., before landing at Vaisala in 2000. Currently, Holle acts as a meteorological consultant working extensively in lightning education and safety, with a simple-to-remember motto, “When thunder roars, go indoors.” He has also authored or co-authored 60 formal scientific papers, several books, and more than 250 informal papers.

And while Holle knows that Arizona will never wrest the “lightning capital of the country” crown from Florida, he assures that Tucson certainly is the lightning photography capital of the world. “We have high cloud bases, clear dry air, saguaros in the foreground and mountains in the background,” he notes. “Lightning shots here make for great photos.” And with more than 6,400 photos to his name, many of them published, Holle is an expert in that too. But then again, he has an advantage over other photographers; he knows exactly where the lightning’s going to be. 

Interested in lightning strike detection? For a map of strikes in the U.S.,  check out Vaisala’s free Lightning Explorer at Thunderstorm.Vaisala.com. 

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