Unusual Lightining Events in Ancient Chinese Literature

Wang, Pao-Kuan; Chu, Jan-Hwa

doi:10.1080/00431672.1982.9932023

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Zhang and Crowley (1989), among others, have discussed methods of data processing and quantification. Chinese historical documentary records have been used successfully for the reconstruction of a wide range of weather and climate phenomena, such as winter and summer temperatures, summer precipitation, snowfalls, plum rain ( meiyu ), floods and droughts, thunder and lightning, and dustfalls (Wang 1980;Zhang 1980Zhang , 1984Zhang , 1991aZhang , 1991bWang and Zhao 1981;Central Meteorological Bureau 1982;Wang and Chu 1982;Zhang and Liu 1987;Zhang, Zhang, and Xu 1988;Chen 1989;Zhang and Crowley 1989;Zhang andWang 1989, 1991;Gong and Hameed 1991;Zhang 1991, 1992;. have produced an extensive review and synthesis of these paleoclimatic indicators with regard to the historical changes in the climatic patterns of China under the influence of the East Asian Monsoon.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A 1,000-Year History of Typhoon Landfalls in Guangdong, Southern China, Reconstructed from Chinese Historical Documentary Records

Liu

Shen

Louie

2001

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

161

130

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In China, the abundance of historical documentary records in the form of Fang Zhi (semiofficial local gazettes) offers an extraordinary opportunity for providing a high-resolution historical dataset for the frequency of typhoon strikes. We have reconstructed a 1,000-year time series of typhoon landfalls in the Guangdong Province of southern China since AD 975 based on data compiled from Fang Zhi. Even though the 571 typhoon strikes recorded in the historical documents probably underrepresent the total number of typhoon landfalls in Guangdong, calibration of the historical data against the observations during the instrumental period 1884-1909 suggests that the trends of the two datasets are significantly correlated ( r ϭ 0.71), confirming that the time series reconstructed from historical documentary evidence contains a reliable record of variability in typhoon landfalls. On a decadal timescale, the twentyyear interval from AD 1660 to 1680 is the most active period on record, with twenty-eight to thirty-seven typhoon landfalls per decade. The variability in typhoon landfalls in Guangdong mimics that observed in other paleoclimatic proxies (e.g., tree rings, ice cores) from China and the northern hemisphere. Remarkably, the two periods of most frequent typhoon strikes in Guangdong (AD 1660 -1680, 1850-1880) coincide with two of the coldest and driest periods in northern and central China during the Little Ice Age. Conceivably, the predominant storm tracks shifted to the south during these cold periods, resulting in fewer landfalls in Japan and the east-central Chinese coast but more typhoons hitting Guangdong. Spectral analysis of the Guangdong time series reveals an approximately fiftyyear cycle in typhoon landfall frequency. While the physical mechanism remains to be identified, it is tempting to relate this periodicity to the pentadecadal variability identified in the North Pacific Index (NPI) time series.

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confidence: 99%

A 1,000-Year History of Typhoon Landfalls in Guangdong, Southern China, Reconstructed from Chinese Historical Documentary Records

Liu

Shen

Louie

2001

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

161

130

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“…2 There is also a reference in ancient Chinese literature to snow thunderstorms as ominous military omens. 6 The current thinking on how clouds become electrified explains the rarity of lightning during winter-like conditions when surface temperatures are relatively cold. From laboratory measurements we know that a mixture of ice crystals, supercooled cloud droplets, and larger ice particles called graupel form a potent environment for electrical charge to separate onto diVerent sized particles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lightning injuries during snowy conditions.

Cherington

Breed²,

Yarnell³

et al. 1998

Br J Sports Med

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Skiers and other snow sports enthusiasts can become lightning casualties. Two such accidents are reported, one being fatal. There are fewer warning signals of impending lightning strikes in winter-like conditions. However, outdoor activists should be aware of at least two suspicious clues: the appearance of convective clouds, and the presence of graupel (snow pellets) during precipitation. (Br J Sports Med 1998;32:333-335) Keywords: injury; lightning; skiing Skiers and other snow sports enthusiasts face many health hazards. Few think of lightning as one of the dangers that confront them. It is well known that lightning is a threat to the health of those engaged in summer recreational activities, such as golfing, boating, swimming, and mountain hiking.1 It may come as surprise to many that those participating in skiing and snowmobiling are also at risk of being injured by lightning. Although lightning is less common in the winter months, its electrical power is often more damaging than summer lightning. 2 We present the case of a ski patrol member on a snowmobile who received ocular injuries while rescuing another skier who had had a non-lightning injury. Also, we review a previously reported patient who had a fatal lightning skiing injury.3 Since that case was reported, we have learnt additional information about the weather conditions that we detail here.We describe the meteorological conditions that are necessary for lightning during snowy conditions and provide a few clues that might allow one to suspect an impending lightning storm. Case reportA 38 year old man was above the timber line at an altitude of 12 500 feet (3800 metres) near Breckenridge, Colorado. He described the weather as cold with sleet and lightning. In a subsequent interview it became clear that what he called "sleet" was actually graupel or snow pellets. He was on a ski rescue mission when he saw a flash of bright light and was thrown about five feet oV his snowmobile. It was 4 30 pm on 8 June 1997 and the outdoor temperature was 3.3°C. He was transporting an injured skier with a broken neck in a fibreglass toboggan on the back of his snowmobile when the lightning struck. He was unconsciousness for a moment and on regaining consciousness he experienced numbness and weakness in his left arm and leg. He had diYculty swallowing or speaking for a few minutes. He was then able to use his right hand to remove his radiotelephone from his back pocket and call for help.The search and rescue team reached him in about 15 minutes. At that time his speech was "garbled" and he had diYculty opening his eyes because of extreme sensitivity to light. He was wearing a helmet which covered his head, face, and ears. The visor was up so that he could see. He was taken by ambulance to Centura Health, St Anthony Hospital in Denver, Colorado. In the hospital his neurological examination was normal. His abnormalities were confined to the ophthalmological examination. He had swollen eyelids without ecchymosis. The anterior segments showed chemotic conjunct...

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“…Chinese warriors believed thundersnow storms were precursors to enemy attacks (Wang and Chu, 1982). Despite this long history of observations, little is known about thundersnow, partly due to the rarity of such storms compared to non-thundering snowstorms and partly due to the lack of direct observations inside the clouds producing lightning.…”

Section: Thundersnowmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Observations of lightning and thunder with snowstorms have been documented since the nineteenth century in the Western Hemisphere (Herschel, 1888) and in China since 1099 (Wang and Chu, 1982). Chinese warriors believed thundersnow storms were precursors to enemy attacks (Wang and Chu, 1982).…”

Section: Thundersnowmentioning

confidence: 99%