Lightning Detection Guide¶

Weather Station Core's lightning detection group tracks local strike activity and gives you a structured safe-to-go-outside countdown.

Compatible sensors¶

Any sensor that exposes cumulative lightning strike counts works. Supported hardware:

Hardware	HA integration	Notes
WH57 (Ecowitt)	Ecowitt / GW series integration	Most common consumer lightning sensor
AS3935 (Franklin)	Custom / ESPHome	Franklin Instruments AS3935 chip
Blitzortung	Blitzortung integration	Network-based, community-run

Blitzortung auto-discovery: if the Blitzortung HA integration is installed and no manual lightning sensor is mapped in ws_core, the integration automatically finds and uses Blitzortung entities. Zero configuration needed.

Enabling lightning detection¶

During setup: enable Lightning Detection on the Features step and map your cumulative strike count sensor (and optionally the nearest distance sensor).

After setup: Settings → Devices & Services → Weather Station Core → Configure → Features → Lightning Detection.

Sensors created¶

Entity ID	Unit	Description
`sensor.ws_lightning_count_1h`	strikes	Strikes detected in the past hour
`sensor.ws_lightning_distance`	km	Distance to the nearest detected strike
`sensor.ws_lightning_rate`	/min	Average strike rate over the past 15 minutes
`sensor.ws_lightning_clearance`	min	Minutes since the last strike
`sensor.ws_lightning_proximity`	—	`near` / `clear` based on configurable threshold
`event.ws_lightning_event`	—	Fires on strike detection and proximity changes

Lightning proximity threshold¶

number.ws_lightning_proximity_threshold (on the device page) sets the distance in kilometres that separates "near" from "clear" for sensor.ws_lightning_proximity. Default is 8 km.

The safety standard for outdoor activities is typically: cease activities when lightning is within 10 km, resume when the clearance timer exceeds 30 minutes.

Safe-to-go-outside automation¶

alias: "Lightning: all-clear notification"
trigger:
  - platform: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.ws_lightning_clearance
    above: 30
condition:
  - condition: state
    entity_id: sensor.ws_lightning_count_1h
    state: "0"
    for:
      minutes: 30
action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_phone
    data:
      title: "Lightning clear"
      message: >
        No lightning detected for 30 minutes.
        Last strike was {{ state_attr('sensor.ws_lightning_distance', 'distance_km') }} km away.

Event entity¶

event.ws_lightning_event fires on: - lightning_strike: when a new strike is detected - proximity_near: when proximity state changes to near - proximity_clear: when clearance timer reaches the safe threshold

Use it as an automation trigger for immediate notification:

trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: event.ws_lightning_event
    event_type: lightning_strike