Cloud-to-ground lightning in tropical cyclones: a study of Hurricanes Hugo (1989) and Jerry (1989)

Abstract

Jerry is found to be more electrically active than Hugo, with 691 flashes detected compared with 33 flashes for Hugo. The majority of these flashes, regardless of the polarity, are located in the right front and right rear quadrants of the hurricanes, almost exclusively in outer convective rainbands. One reason for the large difference in the number of flashes between the two storms is the presence of many convective rainbands in Jerry, compared to only a few in Hugo. More than 20% of the flashes in each storm have a positive polarity. Median negative peak currents of the first return strokes are 49 kA in Hugo and 40 kA in Jerry. Median positive peak currents are 65 kA in Hugo and 52 kA in Jerry. The mean multiplicity of the negative flashes is 1.7 in Hugo and 2.6 in Jerry. Twenty percent of the negative flashes detected in Jerry have a multiplicity of 4 or higher. -from Authors