But where does lightning strike the most? This city in France is the one, to date, which seems the most stormy. It has no less than 26 days of storms.
Last year, France was hit by 410,000 lightning strikes. A dizzying figure which testifies to the frequency, and sometimes the violence, of storms in our territory. But this electrical activity is not distributed evenly…
Indeed, certain regions are particularly exposed, to the point that lightning becomes almost an everyday phenomenon there. Real centers of storms, they concentrate a density of lightning well above the national average. This is the case of a city well known to the French, which was talked about in the last annual report from Météorage. Each year, the specialized site publishes its “Annual lightning strike report in France”, a very precise map of lightning impact points in France.
Thanks to a network of sensors capable of detecting the slightest contact between lightning and the ground, Météorage tracks storm episodes and identifies the most affected areas. A tool as useful for civil security services as for insurers, local authorities… or meteorologists. Among the municipalities most struck by lightning in 2024, Gavarnie (Hautes-Pyrénées) comes in third position with 421 lightning strikes recorded, followed by Pissos (in the Landes), which rises to second place with 451 impacts.
But the city that dominates the ranking is Arles (in Bouches-du-Rhône). The city was hit by 489 lightning strikes, spread over 26 stormy days. An impressive score which reflects the strong stormy instability in the South of France, particularly in summer. But this particularly intense electrical activity is not set in stone. This ranking changes each year, depending on weather conditions and the most exposed areas.
The official results for 2025 have not yet been released. We will have to wait until the end of the year to find out which municipality was most struck by lightning. But if we are to believe the trends of previous years, the South of France has every chance of retaining its status as a high-risk area. And if lightning is fascinating, it is no less dangerous. Indeed, storms represent a significant cause of mortality, with 24,000 deaths recorded across the globe each year, according to the estimate of a study by American researchers published in 2023.
