Ask A Scientist© Weather Archive

 
  > >>  name       Richard
  > >>  status     student
  > >>  age        17
  >
  > >>  Question - What area on earth holds the "record" for the most
  > >> lightning storms over a period of time? I heard Kampala Uganda has
the
  > >> record for most lightning "strikes", but I also heard that there
is
an
  > >> island in the south Pacific the receives thunder and lightning
storms
  > >> daily and scientists actually are "encamped" here to study this
  > >> phenomena. I just can't remember the name. It was on the Knowledge
  > Network
  > >> last year but I didn't "catch" the name of the island. I was
wondering if
  > >> you know where this is as this phenomena intrigues me greatly. I
would
  > >> appreciate your assistance in this matter if possible. Thank You
  > >
  >
  >Richard,
  >
  >It is possible that there are a few places on Earth that receive
  >more lightning than Florida, although Florida, by far, has the highest
  >amount of lightning of any state in the United States. An island
  >would have to have a large enough area of surface to be warmed
  >sufficiently long and over a long enough horizontal extent to produce
  >the intensity of convection (into a thunderstorm) that is required
  >to produce a lot of lightning. Orographic lifting by a large
  >mountain may help, but to produce large thunderstorms you need a large
  >source of moisture (which could come from a warm ocean) and a large
  >source of heat (normally from the land). Where this typically happens
  >in the oceanic environment is near the equator, such as the group of
  >thunderstorms that form west of central Africa or in the western
  >Pacific and organize into hurricanes (typhoons, cyclones). There may
  >indeed be an island in the South Pacific (probably not far south of
  >the equator) where the conditions are right for thunderstorms often.
  >Unfortunately, I don't know of it.
  >David Cook 

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