Severe Convective Storms across Europe and the United States. Part I: Climatology of Lightning, Large Hail, Severe Wind, and Tornadoes

Mateusz Taszarek,Roger Edwards,Harold E Brooks,Sven-Erik Enno,Pieter Groenemeijer,John T Allen,Vanna Chmielewski

doi:10.1175/jcli-d-20-0345.1

Abstract

AbstractAs lightning-detection records lengthen and the efficiency of severe weather reporting increases, more accurate climatologies of convective hazards can be constructed. In this study we aggregate flashes from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) and Arrival Time Difference long-range lightning detection network (ATDnet) with severe weather reports from the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD) and Storm Prediction Center (SPC) Storm Data on a common grid of 0.25° and 1-h steps. Each year approximately 75–200 thunderstorm hours occur over the southwestern, central, and eastern United States, with a peak over Florida (200–250 h). The activity over the majority of Europe ranges from 15 to 100 h, with peaks over Italy and mountains (Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, Dinaric Alps; 100–150 h). The highest convective activity over continental Europe occurs during summer and over the Mediterranean during autumn. The United States peak for tornadoes and large hail reports is in spring, preceding the maximum of lightning and severe wind reports by 1–2 months. Convective hazards occur typically in the late afternoon, with the exception of the Midwest and Great Plains, where mesoscale convective systems shift the peak lightning threat to the night. The severe wind threat is delayed by 1–2 h compared to hail and tornadoes. The fraction of nocturnal lightning over land ranges from 15% to 30% with the lowest values observed over Florida and mountains (~10%). Wintertime lightning shares the highest fraction of severe weather. Compared to Europe, extreme events are considerably more frequent over the United States, with maximum activity over the Great Plains. However, the threat over Europe should not be underestimated, as severe weather outbreaks with damaging winds, very large hail, and significant tornadoes occasionally occur over densely populated areas.

Highlights

Introduction aOverview Convective storms are common phenomena during spring and summer across both Europe and the United States, and frequently produce severe weather and societal impacts (Brooks et al 2018)
Local peaks of lightning frequency exceeding 60 thunderstorm hours are observed over mountain ranges such as the Alps, Carpathians, and Dinaric
Lightning probabilities typically follow the patterns in severe weather reports with the exception of the Great Plains and the Midwest, where the highest fraction occurs during night (2200–0400 CST; Fig. 7a)

Summary

Introduction

Introduction aOverview Convective storms are common phenomena during spring and summer across both Europe and the United States, and frequently produce severe weather and societal impacts (Brooks et al 2018). United States Storm Data has greater consistency over time, but even so the increasing reporting efficiency of weak tornadoes, large hail, and severe wind events can be observed over the last 20 years (e.g., Allen and Tippett 2015; Edwards et al 2018).

Results

Conclusion