Of course, lightning strikes in other places as well, not just in one area. Often though, the first thunderstorms of the day will begin over the higher terrain around Flagstaff, and more generally over the higher terrain across Arizona. You might be familiar with radar on a weather app. It's a bunch of colors meaning rain is nearby or heading your way. We're going to take a look at a radar loop in northern Arizona to help us begin to understand the distribution of lightning we see within the lightning game. But first, we need to briefly look at what radar is and how to interpret it. Radar dishes send out a pulse of energy that bounces off objects in the air like dust, rain, hail, or even bats and bugs. The data collected by this return signal can tell us the size, speed, and direction of the objects the radar pulse bounces off of. You are likely most familiar with radar reflectivity, or the strength of the return signal related to size of the features. This value is in dBZ or decibels. A value of 20 dBZ is typically the point at which light rain begins. A value around