The spectacle of lightning

We’ve all seen the flash of lightning and heard the aftermath of the lightning bolt — the loud clap of thunder. There are three basic elements needed to form lightning. An unstable atmosphere, moisture, and some type of atmospheric action to get the air moving. Most lightning activity we see occurs during our summer months here in the Coulee. Yet, there have been some occurrences of lightning during the winter too.

According to NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, lightning is one of the oldest observed natural phenomena on earth. It can be seen in volcanic eruptions, extremely intense forest fires, surface nuclear detonations, heavy snowstorms, in large hurricanes, and, obviously, thunderstorms.

The lightning bolt is a powerful release of electricity in the atmosphere. Lightning bolts move between clouds, the air and the ground. Air insulates the positive and negative charges in the cloud, and between the cloud and the ground. The discharge of electricity, the lightning bolt, occurs when those opposite charges have built up in the air. When the insulating capacity is overwhelmed, a discharge of electricity is set loose – boom – lightning and thunder.

In Venezuela, a lightning event occurs regularly with the correct weather conditions. This event happens 140 to 160 nights a year, nine hours a day with 16 to 40 lightning strikes per minute. It’s called Catatumbo lightning. These lightning events happen around the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo.

We tend to think lightning bolts are generally horizontal in nature. Researchers have combined data from three different generations of Earth orbiting lightning observation sources. The newest device is on board the International Space Station (ISS). An interesting fact is the extreme horizontal reach of lightning “megaflashes.” The longest-distance lightning bolt occurred in the Southeastern United States in 2020. It spanned 477 miles as it crackled through skies from south central Texas to southeastern Mississippi. The longest flash of lightning bolt lasted 17 seconds. It straddled the Uruguay-Argentina border in 2020.

In the Arctic, scientists have seen an increase in the number of lightning events above 65 degrees north latitude – the Arctic Circle. Using an 11-year period (2010-2020) sourced from the World-Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) for the months of June, July and August, the scientists have shown this increase correlates with increasing global temperatures.

Here in the United States, death by lightning strike is not a common occurrence. The numbers are very low. Of course, the families of those injured or killed by a lightning strike are greatly affected. I reviewed the National Weather Service Storm Events Database for lightning events in Grant County. For the period of September 1970 through September 2021, there were four events. All of these lightning events involved property damage/loss. There were no deaths. For the same time frame for the whole of the U.S., there were 27 deaths. Still, it’s wise to get keep your wits about you during a lightning storm. Protect yourself from a possible strike.

Here’s a review of weather data for February 2022. All data are from my personal home weather station. The high temperature for February was 49˚F on the 16th, the low was 6.7 on the 23rd, and the month mean was 29.7. The all-time high was 61 in 1995. The all-time low was -15˚F in 1950. The all-time mean is 32.5˚F. I measured 1.1 inches of snowfall with a Snow Water Equivalent of 0.15 inches. Total precipitation was 0.36 inches, including rainwater. The largest snowfall for February was back in 1959 at 17.1 inches. The largest amount of precipitation was 3.58 inches in 1940. The mean for February is 0.91 inches.

We will observe a full moon on March 18. There are several names for the March full moon. Worm Moon is one of those names. The ground begins to thaw out, and worms start appearing. A few other names for the March full moon – Crow, Sugar and Sap.