Diurnal cloud-to-ground lightning patterns in Arizona during the southwest monsoon

Abstract

In Arizona, lightning usually starts first, on a daily basis, in the plateau region and extends in an arc from the White Mountains of eastern Arizona westward across the Mogollon rim and then northward onto the Kaibab Plateau of northern Arizona. Flash activity moves in a more or less continuous fashion off the plateau, south and westward down the topography gradient, and enters the lower desert by early evening. At the same time, flash activity develops in the highlands of southeast Arizona and moves west-northwestward, reaching the lower desert by late afternoon. Cloud-to-ground activity across Arizona is at a minimum at 1000 MST and rapidly reaches a peak at 1600 MST in central and southeast Arizona. -from Authors