Cloud-to-ground lightning activity in hail-bearing storms

Abstract

The cloud-to-ground lightning flash (CG) produced by several apparent hailstorms are analyzed in different locations of southern Europe. The hail detection is performed via four different analysis techniques: radar reflectivity factor estimation, radar echo shape analysis, polarimetric hydrometeor identification, and reflectivity difference between radars with different wavelengths. The CG parameters considered are the flash rate and density, the flash polarity, the multiplicity, and the peak current. Some of the observed storms exhibit hail-bearing cell features, while others exhibit heavy precipitation rates without any apparent hail production. One of the hailstorms can be classified as severe because reported hailstorm diameters reach 39 mm. The CG lightning characteristics of both types of storms are compared. The CG rates corresponding to all hail-bearing storms are singularly lower than those of rain-only storms, typically by a factor 5. So, the CG rate of the hail-bearing storms considered does not exceed 2 min-1 while it can reach about 12 min-1 for heavy rain-bearing storms. Moreover, some of them can produce especially high positive CG proportions associated with negative CGS with low values of peak current and multiplicity. This last observation suggests that the negative charge available for CG flashes is weak within the cloud when positive CG flashes are dominant. In order to interpret the low CG rates observed in the case of hail-bearing storms several interpretations are discussed, but it would be necessary to know the intracloud flash activity in such cases of storms in order to enrich the discussion. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.