The extension of lightning flashes from thunderstorms near Cape Canaveral, Florida

Abstract

AbstractThe horizontal distance that intracloud (IC) and cloud to ground (CG) lightning flashes extend from thunderstorms is presented for warm season nonsevere storms near Cape Canaveral, FL. The Warning Decision Support System–Integrated Information (WDSS‐II) software allowed us to ingest, display, and make distance calculations using radar reflectivity data from nearby National Weather Service Offices and lightning information from the National Lightning Detection Network and the local Lightning Detection and Ranging network. The flash distances were determined manually using a measuring tool within WDSS‐II. Six categories of flashes were investigated: (a) CG flashes measured from the edge of the convective core (30 dBZ) to the ground strike location that is beneath the attached anvil, (b) CG “bolt from the blue” flashes measured from cloud edge (0 dBZ) to the ground strike point that contains only 0 dBZ overhead, (c) CG bolt from the blue flashes as in Category B but measured from the edge of the precipitation (18 dBZ), (d) IC flashes that exit a portion of the cloud that is not an anvil, measured from cloud edge (0 dBZ), (e) IC flashes within anvils measured from the edge of convective precipitation (30 dBZ) to the termination point within the anvil, and (f) IC flashes exiting the edge (0 dBZ) of anvils. Results for each category are presented in the forms of frequency distributions of distances and their cumulative frequency distributions.