Delimiting “Thunderstorm Watch” Periods by Real-Time Lightning Location for a Power Utility Company

Abstract

Abstract During times of thunderstorm activity, the power utility serving metropolitan New York enters a potentially costly “thunderstorm watch” mode of operation which is designed to prevent a major power outage caused by lightning. To evaluate the usefulness of real-time lightning-location data in better defining required watch periods, the recorded log of actual watches is compared to a derived log of watch periods based solely on archived cloud-to-ground lightning data from the SUNY–Albany Lightning Detection Network. The analysis period spans February–July of 1984. Simple objective criteria define the initiation and termination times of network-derived watches. A lightning derived watch begins when two lightning flashes occur within 5 min of each other anywhere within a 20-km extension of the borders of the utility's operating region; a derived watch ends when no lightning is observed within the same region for a period of at least 15 min. Of 36 watches common to both databases, the lightning derived...