There are thousands of lightning strikes in NZ every year – so who's keeping count?

In New Zealand we get almost 200,000 lightning strikes a year that is around 22 per hour on average.

We know this because there are people who make it their life's work to track the electrical storms.

University of Otago's Professor Craig Rodger is one of those dedicated to the electrifying field of study.

Speaking to TVNZ1's Seven Sharp he outlined where the country's most active region is.

"The hot spot in New Zealand is right down in the middle of the West Coast, where there is 20 to 30 times more lightning in a narrow region relative to the rest of the country.

"The thunderstorms roll across the Tasman and suddenly they crash into the mountains, pouring lighting into that narrow region," Professor Rodger said.

The physics mad professor is extremely enthusiastic about tracking the phenomenon and uses an antenna on top of his workplace to gather data.

His lightning detectors have a range of over 10,000 kilometres making for some impressive readings.

"The place that has the highest rate of people being struck by lightning in the world is in Cuba, this is because a lot of people work outside in fields," he explained.

Professor Rodger says lightning strikes on average once every 160 seconds in New Zealand.