The North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array: Recent severe storm observations and future prospects

Goodman, Steven J.; Blakeslee, Richard J.; Christian, H. J.; Koshak, William J.; Bailey, J. C.; Hall, John M.; McCaul, Eugene W.; Buechler, Dennis E.; Darden, Chris; Burks, Jason; Bradshaw, T.; Gatlin, Patrick

doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2004.11.035

Cited by 115 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Because C-band radars such as ARMOR suffer from significant attenuation in heavy rain or large hail events, radar reflectivity and differential reflectivity measured by ARMOR were corrected for attenuation and differential attenuation using locally modified software originally developed for/used by the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre (BMRC) C-pol radar, and based on techniques described in Bringi et al [2001]. The total lightning data were collected using the North Alabama LMA, which is permanently installed in the Huntsville, AL area [Goodman et al, 2005].…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[3] As relationships between lightning flash characteristics and thunderstorm kinematic and microphysical parameters become better defined, lightning information can be better incorporated into mainstream meteorological applications including warning decision support [e.g., Goodman et al, 2005] and improved numerical weather prediction [McCaul et al, 2006;Mansell et al, 2007]. To this end, the objective of this paper is to investigate storm scale relationships between total lightning flash rate and thunderstorm kinematic characteristics such as updraft volume and maximum updraft speed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Total lightning activity as an indicator of updraft characteristics

2008

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[1] This study investigates the relationship of total lightning activity and updraft characteristics, such as updraft volume and maximum updraft speed, for a number of storms of different types occurring in the High Plains and in Northern Alabama. Ground-based Doppler and dual polarimetric radar observations were used to compute updraft characteristics. Also, ground-based total lightning data were available at both locations. Results show that time series of updraft volume in the charging zone (at temperatures colder than À5°C) with vertical velocities greater than either 5 or 10 m s À1 have clear relationships with total lightning activity (r = 0.93). Furthermore, these relationships between updraft volume and lightning activity for the storm types of the two climate regimes tend to converge when considering only the subfreezing layers of the clouds. Neither the maximum nor the mean updraft speed correlate as well with total lightning activity (r = <0.8) as updraft volume. Through expanded study designed to explore further regime variability (or lack thereof) of updraft volume-lightning flash rate relationships, better or refined parameterizations for the numerical forecasting of lightning and/or detection and prediction of storm intensity could be realized.

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Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Total lightning activity as an indicator of updraft characteristics

2008

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“…In addition to radar signatures that imply the presence of hail, a number of studies have shown that in some thunderstorms increases in lightning flash rate precede severe weather events, including hailfall, by 5-20 min (e.g., Williams et al 1999;Goodman et al 2005;Wiens et al 2005;Schultz et al 2009;Darden et al 2010;Rudlosky and Fuelberg 2013). This is despite the fact that thunderstorm charging can be locally reduced in regions of wet hail growth (Saunders and Brooks 1992;Pereyra et al 2000;Emersic et al 2011), likely because of the reduced number of rebounding collisions between water-coated graupel and ice crystals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colorado Plowable Hailstorms: Synoptic Weather, Radar, and Lightning Characteristics

Kalina

Friedrich

Motta

et al. 2016

Weather and Forecasting

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Synoptic weather, S-band dual-polarization radar, and total lightning observations are analyzed from four thunderstorms that produced ''plowable'' hail accumulations of 15-60 cm in localized areas of the Colorado Front Range. Results indicate that moist, relatively slow (5-15 m s 21) southwesterly-to-westerly flow at 500 hPa and postfrontal low-level upslope flow, with 2-m dewpoint temperatures of 118-198C at 1200 LST, were present on each plowable hail day. This pattern resulted in column-integrated precipitable water values that were 132%-184% of the monthly means and freezing-level heights that were 100-700 m higher than average. Radar data indicate that between one and three maxima in reflectivity Z (68-75 dBZ) and 50-dBZ echo-top height (11-15 km MSL) occurred over the lifetime of each hailstorm. These maxima, which imply an enhancement in updraft strength, resulted in increased graupel and hail production and accumulating hail at the surface within 30 min of the highest echo tops. The hail core had Z ; 70 dBZ, differential reflectivity Z DR from 0 to 24 dB, and correlation coefficient r HV of 0.80-0.95. Time-height plots reveal that these minima in Z DR and r HV gradually descended to the surface after originating at heights of 6-10 km MSL ;15-60 min prior to accumulating hailfall. Hail accumulations estimated from the radar data pinpoint the times and locations of plowable hail, with depths greater than 5 cm collocated with the plowable hail reports. Three of the four hail events were accompanied by lightning flash rates near the maximum observed thus far within the thunderstorm.

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“…Wiens et al (2005) and Tessendorf (2009) suggested that it is better to focus on the general order of magnitude and trend of the flash rate because the quantitative flash rate depends on the specifications of the observational system and the mapping algorithms. Goodman et al (2005) documented that CGFRs increased 15−20 min before a supercell tornado in Tennessee, but that the CGFRs showed a significant lull 5−10 min before tornadogenesis. Such decreases in CGFRs have been observed before tornadogenesis in the United States (e.g., Kane 1991;Steiger et al 2007) and Japan (Kobayashi and Yamaji 2013); however, the trend of the CGFR shown in Fig.…”

Section: Lightning Jumps Compared With Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies have shown that the lightning flash rate increases rapidly before the onset of severe weather events (e.g., Williams et al 1999;Goodman et al 2005;Steiger et al 2007). These abrupt increases of the lightning flash rate over short periods of time have been termed "lightning jumps" by Williams et al (1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of Lightning Jumps Associated with a Tornadic Supercell on 2 September 2013

Nishihashi¹,

Arai²,

Fujiwara³

et al. 2015

SOLA

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Cloud-to-ground (CG) and total (both CG and intracloud) lightning trends were investigated in a tornado-producing (F2) supercell thunderstorm that occurred over the Kanto Plain in Japan on 2 September 2013. The spatiotemporal signatures of mesocyclone (MC) and storm development were also analyzed using Doppler radar data. The results revealed that rapid increases of lightning flash rates ("lightning jumps") occurred in CG and total flash rates 0−7 and 0−14 min before tornadogenesis, respectively, which are similar to those observed in the United States. However, the CG polarity change reported in previous studies was not observed, i.e., 96% of CG flashes were negative. The vertical vorticity of the MC was larger in the mid-level (4−6 km) than the low level (2 km) at the beginning stage of the lightning jumps, which might have led to updraft enhancement above the freezing level appropriate for the rapid increases in lightning flash rates.

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The North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array: Recent severe storm observations and future prospects

Cited by 115 publications

References 8 publications

Total lightning activity as an indicator of updraft characteristics

Total lightning activity as an indicator of updraft characteristics

Colorado Plowable Hailstorms: Synoptic Weather, Radar, and Lightning Characteristics

Characteristics of Lightning Jumps Associated with a Tornadic Supercell on 2 September 2013

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