Peaks 04/22 at up to 18 per hour under ideal conditions. Not currently active.
Status right now: Not currently active.
Occasionally throws a brief outburst of several times the usual rate.
The Lyrids come from comet Thatcher, and enter the atmosphere at about 49 kilometres per second. That is a middling speed, producing the classic quick streak most people picture.
The quoted rate of 18 per hour is the zenithal hourly rate — the count you would get with the radiant directly overhead, under a perfectly dark sky, with no moon. Nobody's actual conditions match that. Real counts are typically a third to a half of the headline figure, and considerably less with a bright moon or from a town.
SkyRef scales the estimate by the real altitude of the radiant from your location and tells you when the moon is going to ruin it, rather than repeating a number you will never see.
Do not use a telescope or binoculars — meteors appear all over the sky and you want the widest possible view. Lie back, look roughly halfway up, and give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt. Face away from the moon if it is up. Patience matters more than equipment.