An Isolated Winter Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Flash Causing Damage and Injury in Connecticut

Abstract

An isolated lightning flash at 1436:52 UTC 11 February 1996 struck and destroyed a house in Burlington, Connecticut, injuring an occupant of the house. A flash detected simultaneously by the National Lightning Detection Network was within 1.1 km of the house. The flash was separated from any other flash by several hours and hundreds of kilometers and occurred during winter. Positive charge was lowered to ground by the flash, as has been found in previous studies of winter storms. Its estimated peak current of +76 kA was stronger than most positive flashes and nearly all negative cloud-to-ground flashes for the entire year in the same area. The incident is compared with other previously documented lightning casualty and damage statistics during wintertime for Connecticut and other regions of the United States. The importance of the flash is described in relation to the resulting material damage and personal injury, the handling of insurance claims, the use of flash data in forecasting and warning applications, and personal safety.