Educational resources
Lightning & lightning detection
Lightning is a constant on our planet and may have even helped life develop. Today, lightning starts wildfires, disrupts power, slows business operations, and is a significant hazard to life and property. Analyzing lightning helps us understand our atmosphere and how it is changing in a warming climate. Our understanding of lightning is built on decades of research in atmospheric physics and electrical engineering. Vaisala is a key contributor to this effort; we have been detecting and reporting lightning for over 40 years to advance our knowledge.
Global lightning density map
See where lightning strikes with the Vaisala Xweather interactive global lightning density map. Compare the average number of lightning events per km2 per year for every country then zoom in to see how much lightning occurs in your state or province.
Annual lightning report
The Vaisala Xweather Annual Lightning Report looks at the impact of nature's most extreme weather phenomenon with new analyses revealing the most lightning-prone U.S. wind farms and at-risk metropolitan areas.
Lightning blogs
Lightning is a serious safety hazard that can cause injuries or even death. Establishing clear safety protocols helps keep people safe during thunderstorms. Discover essential strategies for protecting people and creating a safer, more resilient communities in our featured articles.
Weather & space exploration
While space lacks air, it does experience weather, originating from the Sun. This includes high-energy light and electrically charged particles known as the solar wind, which can significantly impact Earth and other planets in the Solar System. Vaisala has been supplying sensors for space exploration since the 1950s. Space exploration drives innovation, fosters international collaboration, and fulfills humanity's innate curiosity to explore and understand our surroundings. Since the 1990s, our sensors have been instrumental in Mars missions, leading to significant discoveries like the presence of water on the planet. Mars is particularly intriguing due to its similarities to Earth, helping us better understand challenges such as climate change on our own planet.
Measuring weather in Mars
The unforgiving conditions in space pose strict demands on technology, requiring the most reliable sensors that can be trusted to endure without repair. Learn about exploration on Mars with perseverance and curiosity.
To launch or not to launch: the impact of weather on space launches
Space launches are precise and expensive missions, where the launch windows are calculated according to the optimal location of the destination on its orbit. Weather events around the launch site must be monitored constantly and carefully to ensure the safety and efficiency of the missions.
History of Vaisala in space
From Sputnik to Saturn: at Vaisala, we are proud to have been involved in space exploration since its beginnings in the 1950s. The Vaisala sensors can deliver accurate readings of the real changes taking place in the environment on other planets, as well as on Earth.
Hurricane, typhoon or cyclone?
Hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones are essentially the same type of storm, but they are named differently depending on their location. In the North Atlantic and central and eastern North Pacific, they are called "hurricanes." In the western North Pacific, they are known as "typhoons," and in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, they are referred to as "cyclones." These storms are among the most powerful in nature, generating strong winds, storm surge flooding, and heavy rainfall that can cause inland flooding, tornadoes, and rip currents. They derive their energy from warm ocean waters. Discover more about hurricanes and how we can measure and predict them.
8 hurricane facts that will blow you away
Check out this dynamic infographic highlighting 8 interesting facts about hurricanes and detection of them.
How hurricanes form
Hurricanes form from disturbances in the atmosphere over warm, tropical ocean water. These storms are called hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons or tropical cyclones in other areas of the world. Because of the Coriolis effect, the storms rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
Exploring the atmosphere with dropsondes
Dropsondes are packages of instruments tethered to little parachutes. Dropped from planes, dropsondes are designed to fall slowly, sending reports by radio signal about their location and the atmosphere around them as they fall.
Humidity
Water (H2O) can present itself in three different forms: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (humidity). Humidity is an invisible gas that can be measured and defined with different parameters. For industrial manufacturing, humidity can be both a necessity and a pollutant, depending on the application. Learn about humidity theory and measurements and try our free humidity calculator tool.
Humidity Academy webinar series
By deepening your understanding of humidity in industrial context, you can improve your process efficiency and product quality while saving energy.
Recommended resources
The internet is brimming with educational content and resources. We've scoured numerous websites to gather the finest free educational materials. Dive into these resources from trusted providers for facts, activities, lesson plans, and tools.
AMS: Education Program
American Meteorological Society provides an extensive range of resources, materials, and programs designed for K–12 teachers and undergraduate faculty. You can explore your interests with these engaging and valuable weather-related resources, including course materials, classroom resources, educator guides, and specialized training in weather, water, and climate sciences.
NOAA: JetStream - An Online School for Weather
The National Weather Service Online Weather School is a powerful resource for educators, emergency managers, or anyone interested in learning about weather and weather safety. The topics are cover global and large-scale weather patterns followed by lessons on air masses, wind patterns, cloud formations, thunderstorms, lightning, hail, damaging winds, tornados, tropical storms, cyclones, and flooding.
UK Met Office: 1st explorations to weather & climate
Lesson plans and supporting resources, like bitesize, hands-on activities, to start exploring concepts in climate change and weather. Most suitable for 5-11 year olds.
UK Met Office: Deeper discovery to weather & climate
Lesson plans and supporting resources, like bitesize, hands-on activities, to explore concepts in climate change and weather in more depth. Most suitable for 11-18 year olds.
National Geographic: Classroom resources
Weather encompasses various atmospheric conditions such as temperature, pressure, wind, humidity, precipitation, and cloud cover. Unlike climate, which represents the average weather conditions over 30 years for a specific location, weather is influenced by factors like latitude, altitude, and geography. Dive into the world of weather and its effects with this curated collection of classroom resources.
Readying communities for severe weather events
As NOAA Weather–Ready Nation Ambassadors we are committed to serving as an example and engaging stakeholders to make the US (as well as other nations) ready, responsive, and resilient for extreme weather, water, and climate events.
