Analysis of cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning in winter convection

Pettegrew, Brian P.

doi:10.32469/10355/5586

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The basic characteristics of lightning were examined with snow and found to be primarily of negative polarity. This finding stands in contrast to the bulk of the previous work on winter lightning (see the survey chapter of Rakov and Uman [2003] and Holle and Watson [1996]) that suggests that positive flashes should be dominant, but is consistent with the recent study of many cases of lightning with snow in the central United States [ Pettegrew et al , 2008]. Also, this analysis has established that, while lightning flashes can and do occur concurrently with the highest reflectivities, such a 1:1 correlation only happened in this dataset about 6% of the time.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

A study of lightning flashes attending periods of banded snowfall

Market

Becker

2009

Geophysical Research Letters

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Lightning flashes (N = 1088) associated with 24 thundersnow events in the central United States were analyzed to document flash polarity, signal strength, and multiplicity. Negative lightning flashes (N = 872; 80%) dominated positive flashes (N = 216; 20%) with wintry precipitation in this study, which stands in contrast to the majority of the research done on winter thunderstorms (primarily in Japan). Otherwise, limited work has been done, although thundersnow has been documented in the mid‐latitudes of North America, Europe and Asia. Statistics on peak amplitude were determined for negative (positive) flashes, yielding mean and standard deviation values of −24 kA ± 22 kA (+38 kA ± 34 kA). A subset of winter lightning events (N = 16) were then sought that occurred with banded (single or multiple) snowfall, as banding often denotes greater organization in the atmosphere (e.g., a jet streak aloft to aid in ascent, or a low level jet streak to aid with moisture and thermal transport) and thus the potential for deeper snow totals. Radar reflectivity values were recorded at the location of each lightning flash, as well as the maximum radar reflectivity within the associated snow band. The location of the lightning activity within the snow band was also noted as being either leading edge (LE), trailing edge (TE), core (C), or not correlated (NC), with respect to the motion of the parent band. The majority of lightning flashes were found downstream of areas of highest radar reflectivity with respect to the motion of the snow bands, and not with the highest reflectivity values. If one uses the highest reflectivity values in a snowband as a proxy for the greatest surface snowfall intensity, then the ground terminus of a cloud‐to‐ground lightning (CG) flash is often not co‐located with the heaviest snowfall rates. However, the work completed here does place the location of the typical CG flash ∼15 km downstream of the snowband location, so one could use the occurrence of lightning as a nowcasting tool for impending snow intensification at the site of the CG flash.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

A study of lightning flashes attending periods of banded snowfall

Market

Becker

2009

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…The frequency of snow lightning starts to increase after sunset and reaches its maximum (~6%) beginning around midnight and lasting until the early morning. Pettegrew () observed a diurnal peak of thundersnow events during 00Z to 04Z. The early morning peak of snowfall (Adhikari et al, ) and lake effect snow (Grim et al, ; Kristovich & Spinar, ) over land in the Northern Hemisphere was also reported.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…However, their statistics are based on only CG flashes. Pettegrew () studied 14 storms over the central United States and reported about 1.4% of total lightning at surface temperatures below 0 °C. Of the total cold season lightning flashes, about 24% are reported as CG and 76% are IC flashes.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geographical Distribution of Thundersnow Events and Their Properties From GPM Ku‐Band Radar

Adhikari

Liu

2019

JGR Atmospheres

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Six‐years (2010–2015) of snow lightning characteristics and climatology, including seasonal, diurnal, and surface temperature distribution, are generated. The World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) and the National Lightning Detection Network lightning observations are collocated with Modern‐Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application (MERRA‐2) temperatures. Cold season lightning events are identified as lightning with the MERRA‐2 two‐meter surface temperature colder than 0 °C and then further classified as snow lightning or thundersnow, when the entire vertical temperature profile is below 2 °C, and as freezing rain lightning when there is a temperature warmer than 2 °C somewhere in the column above the freezing surface. The statistics of snow lightning events from WWLLN and National Lightning Detection Network are well matched and are consistent with the climatology of thundersnow days reported at ground‐based stations over the United States. Using 4 years of observations from the Global Precipitation Measuring Mission Ku band radar, 443 Thunder Snow Features (TSFs) are defined, having a contiguous area of nonzero near surface snow precipitation derived from the Ku band radar and MERRA‐2 data, along with collocated WWLLN lightning flashes. The majority (about 394) are found over high mountainous regions such the Himalayas, Tibet, the Andes, and the Zagros mountain regions. Low‐elevation TSFs (45) are observed over the continental and coastal regions. Though only a small number of TSFs are identified with 4 years of Global Precipitation Mission data, most TSFs have maximum radar reflectivity above 30 dBZ at temperature colder than −10 °C, which indicates the importance of the noninductive charging process in these events.

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“…In this equation, Z 1 and Z 2 represent the geopotential height, R d represents the dry gas constant, represents the mean virtual temperature of the layer, g 0 represents the globally averaged acceleration due to gravity at the earth's surface, and P 1 and P 2 represent pressure. In North America, where freezing rain frequently occurs, the thickness at 1000~850 hPa is greater than 1290 m when freezing rain, sleet, or ice pellets occurred (Pettegrew et al, 2008). As Gordon (1998) proposed, freezing rain is likely to occur when the thickness at 1000~500 hPa is between 5340 m and 5460 m or less than 1310 m at 1000~850 hPa.…”

Section: Thickness Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%