The terrestrial atmospheric electrical system covers a range of dimensional scales, from charged molecular clusters to convective cloud systems. Charge-exchange associated with thunderclouds leads to positive charge in the upper conductive regions of the atmosphere and a net negative charge on the planetary surface. In non-thunderstorm regions, a vertical ionic current flows, replenishing the a...

This study describes the daily lighting cycle and the annual thunderstorm distribution as observed by the Precipitation Radar (PR), the Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) and the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite over South America. Based on a TRMM measurements from 1998 through 2011, a database of individual thunderstorms have bee...

Data from both 27 sites in the Atlanta mesonet surface meteorological network and eight National Weather Service sites were analyzed for the period from 26 July to 3 August 1996. Analysis of the six precipitation events over the city during the period (each on a di!erent day) showed that its urban heat island (UHI) induced a convergence zone that initiated three of the storms at di!erent times ...

The characteristics of near-storm environments have been elucidated by several studies of observed soundings near reported tornadoes (Maddox 1976; Kerr and Darkow 1996), all soundings for multiple severe weather hazards during a complete year (Rasmussen and Blanchard 1998), or long-period samples of soundings associated with severe thunderstorms (Craven and Brooks 2004). Meanwhile, much attenti...

Background On 21st November 2016, Melbourne experienced an epidemic of 'thunderstorm asthma.' Although previously described in the literature, risk factors and natural history remain incompletely understood. Objective Our aim was to follow up those presenting to the 3 Emergency Departments (EDs) in our health service during the epidemic, and assess their history for previous asthma, rhinitis,...

The aim of this study was to report the characteristics and treatment strategies of all patients with acute bronchospasm who were presented to the emergency departments of Ahvaz, Iran, following the occurrence of a thunderstorm on November 2, 2013. A total of 2000 patients presenting with asthma attacks triggered by thunderstorm were interviewed and an initial questionnaire was completed for ea...

The aim of the study was to characterize patients at risk of asthma exacerbation during spring thunderstorms and identify potential measures to ameliorate the impact of those events. A case-control study was conducted among patients aged 7-60 yrs, who attended Wagga Hospital (NSW, Australia) for asthma during the period of 1 June 1997 to 31 October 1997. One hundred and eighty-three patients wh...

Although severe thunderstorms are one of the primary causes of catastrophic loss in the United States, their response to elevated greenhouse forcing has remained a prominent source of uncertainty for climate change impacts assessment. We find that the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 5, global climate model ensemble indicates robust increases in the occurrence of severe thunderstorm...

introduction prediction of thunderstorm is one of the most difficult issues in weather forecasting. deep convective clouds develop at small spatial and temporal dimensions about 1-10 km and 1-12 h. various thermodynamic parameters have been discovered over the past 40 years, according to data obtained by radiosounds. the capability of these indices in forecasting instability varies over time an...