Lightning during Two Central U.S. Winter Precipitation Events

Abstract

Network-detected cloud-to-ground lightning coincident with mainly frozen precipitation (freezing rain, sleet, snow) was studied over the central United States during two outbreaks of arctic air in January 1994. During the first event, the ratio of positive to total flashes was 59%, flashes were few and disorganized in area, and no surface observer reported thunder. For the other event the ratio was 52% during the first few hours in subfreezing surface air, then decreased when flashes formed in the nearby region above freezing. Also, flashes in this case were linearly aligned and coincided with conditional symmetric instability; thunder was heard infrequently by surface observers. On radar, reflectivity cores grew from weak to moderate intensity within a few hours of the lightning during both cases. Echo area increased greatly before flashes in one case, while the area increase coincided with flashes in the other. Some base-scan reflectivities were strong in both thunderstorm regions due to the radar beam intersecting the melting level. Regions with lightning often could be identified better by high echo tops than reflectivity. Analyses on the scale of one or two states diagnosed the strength of low-level warming that contributed to formation of thunderstorms and significant frozen precipitation. Quasigeostrophic analyses showed that 850-mb temperature advection and 850?500-mb differential vorticity advection were similar in magnitude in the lightning area during both events. Once convection formed, lightning and echo-top information identified downstream regions with a potential for subsequent frozen precipitation.