Dissecting the anomaly: A closer look at the documented urban enhancement in summer season ground flash densities in and around the Houston area uri icon

abstract

  • The Houston lightning anomaly was examined using nine years of cloudtoground (CG) lightning data (19952003). We find that the local Houston CG lightning anomaly, is a persistent feature, but statistically nonunique along the Gulf Coast. The results also suggest that although the Houston area sees an increased frequency of lightning producing storms, storms occurring further inland appear to produce more lightning on an event basis. Although hypotheses invoking anthropogenic influences have been offered to explain the Houston flash density anomaly, it seems equally plausible that mesoscale influences along the coastline may also be important.

published proceedings

  • GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

author list (cited authors)

  • Gauthier, M. L., Petersen, W. A., Carey, L. D., & Orville, R. E.

complete list of authors

  • Gauthier, ML||Petersen, WA||Carey, LD||Orville, RE