Preliminary development and evaluation of lightning jump algorithms for the real-time detection of severe weather

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that rapid increases in total lightning activity (intracloud 1 cloud-to-ground) are often observed tens of minutes in advance of the occurrence of severe weather at the ground. These rapid increases in lightning activity have been termed "lightning jumps." Herein, the authors document a positive correlation between lightning jumps and the manifestation of severe weather in thunderstorms occurring across the Tennessee Valley and Washington D.C. A total of 107 thunderstorms from the Tennessee Valley; Washington, D.C.; Dallas, Texas; and Houston, Texas, were examined in this study. Of the 107 thunderstorms, 69 thunderstorms fall into the category of nonsevere and 38 into the category of severe. From the dataset of 69 isolated nonsevere thunderstorms, an average, peak, 1-min flash rate of 10 flashes per minute was determined. A variety of severe thunderstorm types were examined for this study, including a mesoscale convective system, mesoscale convective vortex, tornadic outer rainbands of tropical remnants, supercells, and pulse severe thunderstorms. Of the 107 thunderstorms, 85 thunderstorms (47 nonsevere, 38 severe) were from the Tennessee Valley and Washington, D.C., and these 85 thunderstorms tested six lightning jump algorithm configurations (Gatlin, Gatlin 45, 2σ,3σ, Threshold 10, and Threshold 8). Performance metrics for each algorithm were then calculated, yielding encouraging results from the limited sample of 85 thunderstorms. The 2σ lightning jump algorithm had a high probability of detection (POD; 87%), a modest false-alarm rate (FAR; 33%), and a solid Heidke skill score (0.75). These statistics exceed current NWS warning statistics with this dataset; however, this algorithm needs further testing because there is a large difference in sample sizes. A second and more simplistic lightning jump algorithm named the Threshold 8 lightning jump algorithm also shows promise, with a POD of 81% and a FAR of 41%. Average lead times to severe weather occurrence for these two algorithms were 23 min. The overall goal of this study is to advance the development of an operationally applicable jump algorithm that can be used with either total lightning observations made from the ground, or in the near future from space using the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Series R (GOES-R) Geostationary Lightning Mapper. © 2009 American Meteorological Society.