Downstrike

Downstrike is a live lightning map centered on your home. Strikes appear seconds after they flash — then cool from white to ember as they age, so every storm paints its own trail across the dark map.

THE MAP
• Live strikes from Blitzortung.org, a worldwide network of volunteer radio receivers that hears every bolt and locates it with a stopwatch
• Thunder rings expand from each strike at the real speed of sound — when a ring crosses your house, that's the moment the rumble arrives
• Distance rings at 10, 25 and 50 km, with an amber glow that points toward approaching activity
• Wind flow particles and a rain radar layer
• Real thunder, synthesized live: sharp booms up close, long low rumbles far away — at each strike's true distance

NO STORM NEARBY?
Tap the big glowing bolt. It flies you to the most active storm on Earth at that moment — there is always one somewhere.

STORM WARNINGS (US)
Turn on notifications and your phone buzzes when the National Weather Service issues a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning for where you are — even with the app closed. Plus a minute-by-minute rain forecast for the next hour, powered by Apple Weather.

HONEST BY DESIGN
Free, no accounts, no ads, no tracking. Your address stays on your device; if you enable warnings, only your approximate location (about 1 km) is stored to check official alerts — and turning them off deletes it.

Downstrike is for learning and storm-watching fun. It is not an emergency service — in dangerous weather, follow official guidance.

Made by Leo and Noah Zimmerman, a father-and-son team, with help from Claude. Lightning data thanks to the volunteers of Blitzortung.org. Map © CARTO, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Wind by Open-Meteo. Radar by RainViewer.