The when, where and what of Wireless Public Alerting in Canada
Common questions about Alert Ready wireless tests in Canada. The when, where and what of the Alert Ready system.
Lightning regularly kills and injures people. Each year on average in Canada, there are between 9 and 10 deaths, and up to 164 injuries.
Lightning is a common meteorological hazard in Canada, which regularly kills and injures people. It is estimated that each year on average in Canada, there are between 9 and 10 deaths, and up to 164 injuries. In addition, lightning accounts for starting 45 percent of all forest fires. It also causes damage to electrical infrastructure and equipment across the country.
The Canadian Lightning Detection Network (CLDN) was established in 1998. It consists of over 80 sensors distributed across Canada which detect cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-cloud lightning strikes. The information from these sensors is processed and made available to the public on the Canadian Lightning Danger Map.
Environment Canada currently issues an alert when a thunderstorm is or has the potential to be severe. This means there are wind gusts of 90 km/h or greater, hail two cm or larger, or heavy rainfall. But how about lesser thunderstorms that don’t meet this criteria? Or just thunder and lightning with no rain? Don’t these events also pose a threat?
Alertable uses the list of events created for the Canadian Profile of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP-CP). This event list includes many different types of emergency-related events, outside the most commonly known events like weather, fires, and floods. We’re looking for your feedback on other events to include in Alertable. Please let us know what you’d like to see in the comment box below.
Let us know your thoughts on whether lightning danger is something you’d like to see in Alertable via the comment box below.
What are other topics we could talk about? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Read more on our Disaster Series:
- What does Civil Emergency Alert Mean?
- How do I get Severe Weather Alerts?
- What to do Before, During and After an Earthquake
- Disaster Fatigue and COVID-19
- Floods: How to prepare and respond
- Storm Season: Tornadoes
- How do you Prepare for an Emergency Evacuation?
- Air Quality and Forest Fires
Take care. Be prepared.
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