Topic: distance lightning travels

[Mike]

Has any research been done on the distance lightning has traveled out of a storm?  Does anyone know of any information or first hand experience ( no fibs!) of visually seeing lightning travel X km's or X miles?  I have heard of a woman in the US being killed by lightning from a supercell that was 36km away -  perhaps others may have answers?

Mike

[Jimmy Deguara]

How much distance is a storm if it spread an anvil? An anvil can produce lightning though not as frequent. We would require to know whether the lightning came out of the core or from the anvil? Also was the distance from the storm judged on the basis of the its core or the anvil? Now the anvil's distance would be an interesting one to determine!

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Mike]

Mm specifics eh?  Well my question was a generality question! Perhaps yourself and other member has some facts or figures to apply to each of these scenarios? 

How about we go for data on any type of cloud to air from an anvil or core first.  Second, CG strike from the core excluding the anvil.  Thirdly, a CG strike from the anvil only.

 I've seen lots of CGs from the very outer edge of an anvil rim that to my best estimate travelled 5km to reach ground and travelled in an arch outward.

Anything you've seen in the US, Jimmy or other members that could be of assistance?

Mike

[Jeff Brislane]

Mike,

I tend to think of reports like that as being anvil lightning. I don't think it's feasable for a cg to travel 36 km outward from the core of a cell. However I have a photo of a lightning strike in which the lightning split in two and both bolts struck the ground approx 10 to 15km apart going by my own distance estimate of course.

Jeff.

[Mike]

Jeff, well yes re 36km - these things are what you see on the the weather channel docos and naturally some criticsm has to be in the back on one's mind, but I guess from wherever that person got hit and where the bolt came from - who knows!  I personally have not seen CGs strike too far out from the core either, yet have seen, as you mentioned anvil bolts reach further out - 36km is a hellava way to travel even with my limited knowledge!  But that's wy i posted the topic, just to get some insight into what other people have seen.   It's all good.

Mike

[Michael Bath]

I don't doubt that anvil crawler / CG combos can occur a very long distance from the storm core with powerful storm setups. Given what we observed on chase on 13th and 14th January this year, I'd estimate some of the anvil crawler CGs were probably 100km from the storm core. Same on 27th November 2006 with anvil crawler CGs hitting near home from a supercell on the Northern Tablelands.

Sometimes you cannot see the anvil crawler part of the lightning and it would appear like a CG from nowhere - especially if it is still day time.

[Mike]

And with the size of some supercell anvils that I've seen on DVDs it wouldn't surprise me if they were 'pretty long'!  Viewed some supercells on DVD from Texas and I was just gobsmacked with the length of the anvil compared to the storm itself - it's just not natural surely!  Some of the night shots of lightning travelling a huge distance under the anvils - you'd need a panormic lens just to get it all in shot!

Mike

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi Michael et al,

Some of the strobing lightning I saw came from the anvil 13May 2005 - it would have been at least 20 kilometres out of the storm core again because the anvil was so massive! The anvil was very charged and really an eye opener of being to complacent when under explosive supercells.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Mike]

Recently read on another website re storms in Darwin and safety issues re distance lightning travels.  The person mentioned that lightning can travel 30km from the storm (but was not specific about which part of the storm).  We've been through this in this topic but I was a bit miffed that from what I've learnt on the forum that i believe this to be a tad untrue to what this person was saying, especially given the type of storms we have here.   Might get one from a supercell - but that's even rarer!

 He mentioned a particular spot in Darwin where you could get good photos over the ocean and mentioned re safety and that bolts can travel 30km - well I can tell you that I live 25km from where he was suggesting and there is absolutely, positively no way that i have ever seen a strke from the place he mentioned to my home - ever - even with large anvils that I can see, but they're still too far away.  If that was the norm then i wouldn't have to drive into town at all!

So what am I to do?  Should I politely mention to him that unless the anvil is spread that far south and is severe that the likelihood of a CG grounding near my house is fairly, fairly remote?

Just want to get things right for other viewees of that site to get good, reliable advice.  Any comments would be great.

Mike

[Jimmy Deguara]

Mike,

If it is something that you wish to dwell further into, certainly ask questions such as how he determined the distance of or to the storm?

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[striker92]

Hi guys,
Whilst i agree with all the comments posted above You are all forgetting one thing.
Lightning is not a predictable force, form a single storm a strike that has struck 10 ks away might be followed by the one that strikes 20 ks away and so on.
Also 36 ks is an unusually large distance for a strike to travel but it is possible. The other factor one may consider is the possibility of POSITIVE STRIKES these can strike many kilometers away from a dying or afar storm and whilst rare are certainly not a once in a lifetime phenomenon, my bet is that the women killed in the US was a victim of one of these positive strikes.

[Mike]

Mmm don't know!  I've seen footage from US supercells with strikes way, way out under the anvil and grounding and these anvils were spread back from the core many miles from it.  It is recorded that a strike was grounded 42miles away from a storm in the US - but we're all correct when we say that it's an unpredicable force.  One of those things.  I have seen a CG exit from the very tip of an anvil to the ground around the tower and this tower was huge - i don't know what the height of the storm was but i'm talking about strikes emitting from a storm and travelling outward 20km and not 'vertical' to the storm itself.

Even the event here on March 1 2007 with that deepening tropical low, no strike travelled that far and we had over 2000 in a space of two hours and that included smooth, branched CGs and that system had an astounding number of large/severe storms imbedded in it.

I have not seen CGs that strong emit from any dissipating storm here.  I photographed a series of storms across the harbour the other night and they were at least 30km away.  All of the CGs were active within a westerly positioned rain shaft/updraught area, whilst the anvil was spread out to the east - whilst the eastern side of the storm appeared to be dying out and only produced crawlers, the updraft was still constant enough to keep active CGs within the core for over an hour and a half....

I have no doubts that it happens, i just have not seen anything on it as yet except for footage and how do you gauge distance unless your'e the one videoing it!

Mike