Use case

Lightning detection for golf courses.

A golf course needs to know when lightning is close enough to clear the greens, and when it is safe to send players back out. Lightning API gives you that as a zone around the property and a webhook the moment a strike lands inside it, with no mast to buy or maintain.

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The decision you are actually making

Course operations does not need a map of every flash in the state. It needs one binary answer, repeated reliably: is lightning close enough that people should come off the course right now. Most courses answer it with a siren wired to a dedicated detection unit, which is capital equipment with a maintenance contract attached.

The API version of the same answer is a zone. You define a radius around the clubhouse, and you get a signed webhook the instant a flash is detected inside it. Your own system decides what to do with that: sound the horn, push a notification to marshals, flip a sign at the first tee.

How it works

Create a zone from the dashboard or the API, centred on the course with the radius your safety policy uses.
Point the zone at an HTTPS endpoint you control.
Verify the signature on each delivery so you only act on genuine alerts.
Decide your all-clear rule yourself, for example no strikes inside the zone for thirty minutes.

Zone alert deliveries do not count against your monthly call quota. Polling for an all-clear does, so most courses poll on a slow interval and rely on the webhook for the alert itself.

Checking the area by hand

If you want a snapshot rather than a subscription, query a bounding box around the property for the last fifteen minutes. This is the call a dashboard widget or a marshal's phone screen would make.

Recent strikes near a course

curl "https://api.lightningapi.dev/v1/flashes" \
  -H "X-API-Key: lapi_your_key_here" \
  -G -d since_minutes=15 \
     -d min_lat=33.49 -d max_lat=33.53 \
     -d min_lon=-82.04 -d max_lon=-81.99

What it costs to run

A single course polling every minute during daylight hours uses well under the Pro monthly allowance, and the zone webhooks that carry the actual alerts are free of quota. There is no per-site licence and no hardware line item.

Recommended plan

Pro

Zone alerts are what this use case runs on, and Pro is the first plan with enough zones to cover a course plus a practice facility, at a 20,000 row per call cap that a single property never approaches.

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Frequently asked questions

Does this replace an on-site lightning detector?

It replaces the data feed, not your safety policy. You still decide the radius, the evacuation trigger, and the all-clear rule. Many courses run this alongside existing equipment rather than instead of it.

How quickly does an alert arrive?

Zone webhooks are delivered in near real-time, within seconds of detection. If your endpoint is slow to respond, delivery is retried.

Can I cover more than one course?

Yes. Each property gets its own zone. Zone count is capped by plan, so check the plan table on the pricing page if you are managing a portfolio.

What radius should I use?

That is a policy decision, not an API setting. Many operators work from an eight to sixteen kilometre ring. Set the zone radius to match whatever your own safety guidance already says.

Is the whole United States covered?

Yes, including Alaska and Hawaii. See the coverage pages for the full picture across the Americas, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

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Last checked 2026-09-20

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Coverage areas

All regions · USA · Canada · South America · Mexico & Central America · Caribbean & Atlantic · Pacific, Hawaii & Alaska

Lightning data provided as-is; not for safety-critical use. Commercial use is permitted on every current plan. Read the EULA →