Where did all the lightning go?

Blame COVID-19 for the pause

Lightning in Memorial from Michael on Click2pins last September

Lightning strikes around the world dropped off nearly 8% during the Spring of 2020  COVID lockdown period, but the pause didn’t last long.  As pollution returned so did the lighting last year.

Researchers discovered the decrease was due to a drop in pollution from March to May.

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The study connects lightning and air pollution. Pollution increases aerosols in the sky leading to more microscopic landing spots where water drops and ice crystals can attach creating electrical charges between the two states of matter.

“When COVID-19 led to lock-downs, there was a reduction in pollution everywhere,” said Yakun Liu, a meteorological researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The COVID pandemic period led to a global reduction of lightning stroke activity during the 3-month “lockdown” period March to May, 2020, (https://www.agu.org/)

Without pollution clouds form bigger rain droplets without as many ice particles which are required for electrical charge separation in lightning.

When global activity shut down at the start of the pandemic, fewer aerosols were emitted into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels.

LIGHTNING STRIKES BACK IN 2021

The pause in lightning was short lived. As people resumed activity across the United States, lightning increased 14% the following year.

Vaisala, a global leader in lightning data, published its 2021 Annual Lightning Report with a total of 194,226,288 in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning events in the continental U.S., compared to 170,549,822 in the previous year.

Florida had 223 lightning events detected per square mile making it the state with the most lightning density in 2021. (Vaisala)

Florida had the highest lightning density greater compared to any other state, with 223 lightning events per square mile, while Texas led the nation with 41,914,516 total lightning strikes.

The Vaisala data also revealed a dramatic increase in lightning in the arctic regions on Earth above 80°N totaling 7,278 lightning strikes in 2021.


About the Author:

After covering the weather from every corner of Florida and doing marine research in the Gulf, Mark Collins settled in Jacksonville to forecast weather for The First Coast.