S'pore to monitor lightning activity

S'pore to monitor lightning activity

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore is setting up a system to track lightning activity in the skies and possible ground strikes after three people struck by lightning died last month.

A spokesman for the meteorological service said the network of three sensors would map thunderstorm patterns, monitor lightning and eventually may even forecast electrical activity in the clouds.

The system will pinpoint the ground locations where lightning could strike, The Sunday Times reported.

The information will be broadcast in weather updates to help people engaged in outdoor activities such as golf and other sports, and aid aviation, transport and communications networks. Singapore has up to 20 lightning strikes per square kilometer of its land mass each year, one of the world's highest.

Three people including a 14-year-old boy playing football and a seven-year-old walking to the bus stop were killed by lightning last month, matching the toll for all of 1995.