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Sources

Where the facts come from

Every factual claim on this site links to its source. This is the full list.

How we checked

We only use three kinds of source: the Met Office, NOAA (including the US National Weather Service and its labs) and NASA. Each fact was written alongside its source. Our build script stores the source text and, for every fact, checks that the key words and figures really appear in it. 126 of 126 checks passed when this site was last built (27 Oct 2026). Where we couldn’t find one of those sources saying it, we left the claim out.

Things that change

Some figures are counts or averages that get updated, such as yearly lightning deaths or strike rates. These are marked “checked 27 Oct 2026” so you know how fresh they are. Physics, such as the speed of sound, doesn’t change. Where two sources give different figures, we show both and say who says what.

The games

The flash-to-bang game uses the speed of sound from NOAA’s table for the air temperature you pick. The distances, the storm’s path and the thunder sounds are made up by the game. The Storm Safety Dash answers come from the Met Office and National Weather Service pages below.

All sources (26)