Investigating Lightning Stroke Variability and Ground Stroke Density in Peninsular Malaysia: A Statewise Comparative Study of Fatality Trends

Abstract

This study investigates the spatial variability of lightning stroke occurrences and their associated fatality rates across the 12 states of Peninsular Malaysia from 2019 to 2023. A total of 8,427,391 cloud -to-ground strokes were analyzed using data obtained from the Vaisala GLD360 network and processed by ArcGIS Pro with total of 130 fatalities. The western region demonstrated the highest lightning fatalities with Selangor and Kuala Lumpur / Putrajaya with the maximum GSD value 3,470,455 strokes km-2 yr-1 with 16.7 fatalities per million strokes. Despite recording the largest stroke total with 1,212,345 strokes, Johor had a comparatively low risk with 28.3 deaths per million strokes with the maximum GSD value 1,360 strokes km-2 yr-1 due to higher population preparedness and infrastructure resilience. However, smaller northern states such as Perlis the maximum GSD value 22,294 strokes km-2 yr-1 with 200 fatalities per million strokes and Pulau Pinang the maximum GSD value 13,003 strokes km-2 yr-1 with 100 fatalities per million strokes faced disproportionate risks and highlight the impact of demographic exposure and limited protective measures. The correlation findings which is lightning strokes count versus land area, R2 =0.7545; lightning strokes count versus fatalities, R2 = 0.3631 explain that the lightning occurrence is driven by the geographical scale while fatality rates governed by socio environmental vulnerabilities.These findings provide a detailed statewise comparative assessment and highlight the need for targeted mitigation strategies to improve lightning safety awareness in high risk regions.