William Koshak (ST11) co-authored an article accepted for publication on 7/2/23 in the journal Fire, with title “Spatial Structure of Lightning and Precipitation Associated with Lightning-Caused Wildfires in the Central to Eastern United States”. The paper examines the horizontal storm environment/structure in the vicinity of 92,512 lightning-ignited wildfires that occurred in the mid to eastern regions of the United States in the period 2003-2015.
The study employed data from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN), NCEP’s Stage IV gauge-corrected radar precipitation mosaic, and the US Forest Service’s Fire Occurrence Database. On the hourly 10 km scale, it was found that both the lightning and precipitation peaks are typically offset from fire ignitions. As anticipated based on our earlier dry lightning studies, it was found that lightning density was higher (and precipitation lower) near ignition points compared to non-ignition points. Whereas the average spatial distribution of lightning flashes near fire ignitions was symmetrical, the pattern of precipitation and positive polarity flashes was not. Regression analyses were shown to be consistent with the claim that positive polarity flashes have a stronger association with ignition than negative flashes. However, the statistical significance is ambiguous since the fraction of positive polarity flashes was fairly constant in the vicinity of wildfires.
Read more at: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/7/262.
