Learning from Lightning

The scientists found that, in the Midwest and the Great Plains, storms were more severe on average, and the ratio leaned toward intracloud lightning. In the South, where storms tend to be less severe than they are in the Midwest, there was a lower intracloud to cloud-to-ground lightning ratio. The long-term average in the Southeast turned out to be 3:1, while in the Midwest it was 10:1 on average and much higher during severe storms. One of their key scientific findings, Boccippio says, was determining "an average for the U.S….and finding that there was significant variability by region."

While this may not constitute a shattering of paradigms, their work is a step toward NASA's goal of advancing climatology and real-time storm "nowcasting." However, Boccippio notes that there are still "basic unanswered questions [that] need to be tackled."

For more information:

Watch 'Storm Chasers: Fury in the Skies' TV documentary
http://www.firstscience.com/home/firstscience.tv/stormchasers-fury-in-the-skies_8.html

Watch  'Storm Chasers: Fury in the Plains' TV documentary
http://www.firstscience.com/home/firstscience.tv/storm-chasers-fury-on-the-plains_9.html

Watch 'Oaklahoma Fury' TV documentary
http://www.firstscience.com/home/firstscience.tv/oklahoma-fury_12.html

Watch 'When Nature Strikes Back: Chasing Killer Storms' TV documentary
http://www.firstscience.com/home/firstscience.tv/when-nature-strikes-back-chasing-killer-storms_16.html