Implementing Lightning Alerts for Your Boat with Home Assistant and Blitzortung

As sailors, we’re always at the mercy of the weather. While modern forecasting has come a long way, sudden storms can still catch us off guard. Today, we’ll explore how to set up an advanced lightning alert system for your sailboat using Home Assistant and the Blitzortung lightning detection network.

What You’ll Need

• A running Home Assistant instance
• The Blitzortung integration (available through HACS)
• An ESPHome with a GPS module -or- any source of GPS Position in HASS
• A notification service (e.g., Pushbullet, Pushover, or the Home Assistant mobile app)

Setting Up Blitzortung

Assuming you’ve already installed the Blitzortung integration via HACS, you’ll need to enable the integration it in your instance and we’re ready to go !

Default configuration will track lightning strikes within a 100km radius. Adjust as needed for your sailing area, that’s more than 10 hours at 5 knots, good enough for me !

Creating the Automation

Now for the heart of our system – the automation that will trigger alerts when lightning is detected nearby. Add the following to your automations.yaml file:

alias: "[Test] Blitz"
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: sensor.blitzortung_lightning_counter
condition:
  - condition: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.blitzortung_lightning_distance
    below: 50
action:
  - service: notify.mobile_app_21081111rg
    data:
      message: Lightning alert {{sensor.blitzortung_lightning_distance}} km !
mode: single

This automation will send a push notification via HASS mobile app whenever lightning is detected within 50km of your boat.

Enhancing the System

To make your lightning alert system even more robust, consider these enhancements that I haven’t yet taken time to do:

• Implement different alert levels based on distance (e.g., “Warning” for 50km, “Urgent” for 25km)
• Turn-Off everything for X minutes when very close.
• Set up a dashboard in Home Assistant to visualize lightning strikes in real-time

Conclusion

With this setup, you’ll have a powerful, customizable lightning alert system that can significantly enhance your safety at sea. Remember, while this system can provide valuable warnings, it should always be used in conjunction with official weather forecasts and your own observations.

Happy and safe sailing!