Florida Coast Hit by 4,000 Lightning Strikes in 15 Minutes—'Absolutely Nuts'

Nearly 4,000 lightning bolts struck off the southwest Florida coast in just 15 minutes on Wednesday.

A total of 3,946 lightning strikes were recorded in the Gulf of Mexico west of the cities of Naples and Fort Myers, according to WINK in Fort Myers.

"WOW! Mother Nature going absolutely nuts off the Southwest Florida coast right now," Matt Devitt, the chief meteorologist at the station, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "4,000 lightning strikes with this storm in just 15 minutes. Check out the lightning density and tight clustering of strikes in the bottom image."

Southwest Florida experienced wet weather on Thursday morning, and strong winds between 30 and 40 mph are forecast for the afternoon as a cold front passes through.

Several high and moderate rip current warnings are also in place across the state following Wednesday night's storm, including in Pinellas, coastal Hillsborough, coastal Manatee, coastal Sarasota, coastal Charlotte and coastal Lee counties.

The National Weather Service has advised people not to enter the surf at the beaches of Volusia, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties.

Florida was ranked the second-most lightning-prone state last year, with more than 19 million lightning events, according to Vaisala Xweather. It was ranked behind Texas, which saw 42 million.

However, Florida ranked first for lightning density, with the highest number of events per square kilometer.

Lightning kills 27 people on average each year in the U.S., according to Florida State University, with Florida averaging seven deaths. It often ranks the highest in the nation for yearly deaths.

Lightning in Florida is particularly intense because of the combination of heat, humidity and sea breezes from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.

The breezes often trigger a drop in temperature or humidity level, leading to rain and thunderstorms across inland areas, according to AccuWeather.

"Storms tend to focus along the temperature boundary between the cool ocean air and the warm air well inland," it said.