Cloud-to-Ground Lightning throughout the Lifetime of a Severe Storm System in Oklahoma

• Published in: Monthly weather review 2000-06, Vol.128 (6), p.1798-1816
• Main Authors: Shafer, Mark A, MacGorman, Donald R, Carr, Frederick H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Lightning; Meteorology; Storms; Tornadoes
• ISSN: 0027-0644; 1520-0493
• DOI: 10.1175/1520-0493(2000)128<1798:ctgltt>2.0.co;2

The evolution of ground flash polarity in the storm system of 26 May had characteristics that have not been documented previously. [...]this paper discusses the behavior of ground flashes in the various stages of the storm system, along with the behavior of ground flashes in the vicinity of the mesocyclone. a. Previous studies of cloud-to-ground lightning data National Weather Service (NWS) offices now have access to cloud-to-ground lightning data from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (described by Cummins et al. 1998), but most applications of these data in the NWS have been fairly straightforward. Two hypotheses were suggested. 1) Updrafts and the resulting local charge generation were enhanced simultaneously in both regions by some largescale phenomenon, such as a short wave, or 2) the ground flashes in the stratiform region were long horizontal flashes originating near the convective line and so experienced a trend in flash rates similar to that of ground flashes in the convective region. Because of the lack of data on mesoscale and convective updrafts and on the in-cloud structure of flashes, neither of these hypotheses can be verified with the available dataset.