High-resolution climatology of lightning characteristics within Central Europe

Abstract

A 6-year analysis (including data of 36 million strokes) of the spatial and temporal occurrence of lightning strokes in Germany and neighbouring areas is presented. The analysis on a high-resolution grid with spatial resolution of 1 km allows assessing the local risk of lightning and studying local effects, e.g. the influence of orography on the occurrence of thunderstorms. The analysis reveals spatial and temporal patterns: the highest number of lightning strokes occurs in the pre-alpine region of southern Germany, further local maxima exists in low mountain ranges. The lowest number of lightning strokes is present in areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Despite a high year-to-year variability of lightning rates, on average a clear annual cycle (maximum June to August) and diurnal cycle (maximum in the afternoon) are present. In addition to this well-known annual and diurnal pattern, the analysis shows that those are intertwined: the diurnal cycle has an annual cycle, visible in the time of daily maximum which occurs later in the afternoon in summer compared to spring and autumn. Furthermore, the annual cycle of lightning is varying geographically, e.g. offshore and coastal regions show a lower amplitude of the annual cycle and a later maximum (autumn) compared to inland (mountainous) regions. In addition, the annual and diurnal cycles of lightning attributes are analysed. The analysis reveals rising height of inner-cloud lightning during the year with a maximum in late summer.