A geographical analysis of warm season lightning/landscape interactions across Colorado,USA |
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| Institution: | 1. Application Laboratory, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan;2. Fondazione Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, and Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Bologna, Italy;3. Climate Prediction Center, NOAA/NWS/NCEP, College Park, MD, USA;1. Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education/Collaborative Innovation Center Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China;2. Center for Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Japan;3. Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, Environment Canada, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada;4. College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Nanjing, China;5. Numerical Weather Prediction Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China |
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| Abstract: | This article analyzes lightning/landscape interactions across the State of Colorado. Ten years (2003–2012) of warm season cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning activity are mapped at 500 × 500 m2 to characterize the distribution of thunderstorm activity. Geospatial analyses quantify lightning activity by elevation, physiographic region, and mountain range, and time-series animations outline the general movement of thunderstorms. From these spatio-temporal perspectives, our objective is to elucidate lightning/landscape interactions as they occur over a topographically and climatologically diverse landscape. The information aids meteorologists by exposing orographic and rainshadow effects, mesoscale meteorological effects, fluxes of moisture sources, thunderstorm initiation zones, and thunderstorm movements. Other benefits extend to wildland fire managers, those who maintain lightning-vulnerable infrastructures, and, from a human risk perspective, an overall awareness to those who work and play outdoors. Major findings include (1) elevation alone does not determine the degree of lightning activity, (2) across the state's mountain ranges, lightning density varies considerably, but the number of lightning days does not, and (3) the time of lightning initiation and maxima varies by elevation, with higher mountain elevations experiencing most activity 1 h before lower mountain elevations, and 3 h before lower Great Plains locations. |
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| Keywords: | Lightning Mountain weather Meteorology Mountain geography Colorado geography |
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