The hot weather in the UK has led to a number of thunderstorms of late which have coincided with some media reports that mobile phones may actually be magnets for lightning. For those who are worried about being struck down by a bolt from the blue, a new service by global weather service Weather News may be of interest.

The service is called “Lightning Alert” and delivers email messages to your mobile when lightning storms brew within 30 kilometres of a predefined location. As well as specifying the likely location of lightning strikes, the service rates the lightning ‘danger level’ on a scale of one to four.

To sign up for the lightning alerts, consumers must first subscribe to the Weather News service at a price of ¥105 per month. Of course, the service is only available in Japan, so those of us in the UK might want to continue wearing rubber soles and avoid climbing trees.

# posted by Jan Kuczynski @ 9:26 am