HR: 11:40h
AN: AE42A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Electrically Active Storms in the Appalachian Mountains
AU: * Huffines, G R
EM: gary.huffines@unco.edu
AF: University of Northern Colorado, 501 20th Street CB 100, Greeley, CO 80639 United States
AU: Orville, R E
EM: rorville@tamu.edu
AF: Texas A&M University, 3150 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843 United States
AB: There is less lightning activity in the Appalachian Mountains than in other surrounding areas as indicated by several flash density studies. Some storms have demonstrated a characteristic coined as the Appalachian Lightning Jump where the lightning ends as it approaches the mountain range or continues on following the valleys in between the mountains instead of the mountain peaks as in other regions such as the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. In certain storms, the lightning diverts around the higher elevations as if the storm may be experiencing some sort of a blocking effect such as cold air damming or the loss of low level convergence with the surface elevation changes. In this follow-on study to the Appalachian Lightning Jump presentation at the 2003 Annual AGU Meeting, the storms exhibiting this jumping characteristic are examined by including lightning data from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) and measurements from the WSR-88D radars in the area to determine if there is a change in the structure of these storms. Comparisons with storms similar in nature, from a lightning perspective, are also examined to determine if the lightning jump is unique to more shallow systems that may lose their support when approaching the mountains or that may experience cold air damming.
DE: 3324 Lightning
DE: 3329 Mesoscale meteorology
DE: 3304 Atmospheric electricity
DE: 3314 Convective processes
SC: Atmospheric and Space Electricity [AE]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting