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Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society WMO World Record Lightning Extremes: Longest Reported Flash Distance and Longest Reported Flash Duration --Manuscript Draft-- Manuscript Number: BAMS-D-16-0061 Full Title: WMO World Record Lightning Extremes: Longest Reported Flash Distance and Longest Reported Flash Duration Article Type: Article Corresponding Author: Randall Cerveny Arizona State University Tempe, UNITED STATES Corresponding Author's Institution: Arizona State University First Author: Timothy L. Lang Order of Authors: Timothy L. Lang Stéphane Pédeboy William Rison Randall Cerveny Joan Montanyà Serge Chauzy Donald R. MacGorman Ronald L. Holle Eldo E. Ávila Yijun J. Zhang Gregory Carbin Edward R. Mansell Yuriy Kuleshov Thomas C. Peterson Manola Brunet Fatima Driouech Daniel S. Krahenbuhl Manuscript Classifications: 1.052: Europe; 1.096: North America; 3.224: Lightning; 5.076: Instrumentation/sensors; 9.008: Anomalies Abstract: A World Meteorological Organization weather and climate extremes committee has judged that the world's longest reported distance for a single lightning flash occurred with a horizontal distance of 321 km (199.5 mi) over Oklahoma in 2007, while the world's longest reported duration for a single lightning flash is an event that lasted continuously for 7.74 seconds over southern France in 2012. In addition, the committee has unanimously recommended amendment of the AMS Glossary of Meteorology definition of lightning discharge as a "series of electrical processes taking place within 1 second" by removing the phrase "within one second" and replacing with "continuously." Validation of these new world extremes (a) demonstrates the recent and on-going dramatic augmentations and improvements to regional lightning detection and measurement networks, (b) provides reinforcement regarding the dangers of lightning, and (c) provides new information for lightning engineering concerns. Author Comments: Email (August, 2015) from Jeff Rosenfeld to me (Randy Cerveny), regarding eventual Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation submission of this article to BAMS: It's great to hear from you. I hope all is well. That sounds like a great article--interesting extreme that I suppose was not possible until the modern era of lightning detection systems and satellite observing. BAMS would be a great place for the article. If you're thinking of submitting it, please go ahead and basically send what you just sent to me within the online Editorial Manager manuscript tracking system, so that we can assign a number for it and keep tabs on it. --Jeff On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 1:55 PM, Randall Cerveny <[email protected]> wrote: Hi, Jeff, I have put together another blue-ribbon WMO evaluation weather extremes committee that is in the final stages of evaluating two lightning weather extremes. I am wondering if BAMS would be interested in publishing our findings? Suggested Reviewers: Walter A. Lyons, Ph.D. FMA Research, Inc. [email protected] Lyons is a top lightning specialist Paul Krehbiel, Ph.D. New Mexico Instritue of Mining & Technology [email protected] Krehbiel is a top lightning specialist Eric Defer, Ph.D. LERMA-CNRS/Observatorie de Paris [email protected] Defer is a top lightning specialist Eric Bruning, Ph.D. Texas Tech University [email protected] Bruning is a top lightning specialist Richard Blakeslee, Ph.D. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center [email protected] Blakeslee is a top lightning specialist Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation Manuscript (non-LaTeX) Click here to download Manuscript (non-LaTeX) WMOlightning_lang_etal_REVB3.pdf 1 WMO World Record Lightning Extremes: 2 Longest Reported Flash Distance and Longest Reported Flash Duration 3 Timothy J. Lang1 4 Stéphane Pédeboy2 5 William Rison3 6 Randall S. Cerveny4* 7 Joan Montanyà5 8 Serge Chauzy6 9 Donald R. MacGorman7 10 Ronald L. Holle8 11 Eldo E. Ávila9 12 Yijun Zhang10 13 Gregory Carbin11 14 Edward R.Mansell7 15 Yuriy Kuleshov12 16 Thomas C. Peterson13 17 Manola Brunet14 18 Fatima Driouech15 19 Daniel S. Krahenbuhl4 20 1. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 21 2. Météorage 22 3. Electrical Engineering, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology 23 4. School of Geographical Sciences, Arizona State University Page 1 24 5. Polytechnic University of Catalonia 25 6. Laboratoire d'Aérologie, University of Toulouse/CNRS 26 7. National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA, Norman, Oklahoma 27 8. Vaisala, Inc., Tucson, Arizona 28 9. FaMAF, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina. IFEG-CONICET 29 10. Laboratory of Lightning Physics and Protection Engineering, Chinese Academy of 30 Meteorological Sciences 31 11. Storm Prediction Center, NOAA, Norman Oklahoma 32 12. Australian Bureau of Meteorology & School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, 33 Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University 34 13. World Meteorological Organization Commission for Climatology 35 14. Centre for Climate Change, Dept. of Geography, University Rovira i Virgili & Climatic 36 Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia 37 15. Climate Studies Service at the Direction de la Météorologie nationale of Morocco 38 *Corresponding Author, email: [email protected]; School of Geographical Sciences, Arizona 39 State University, Tempe AZ 85287-5302 40 41 Capstone Statement: A World Meteorological Organization committee has judged that the 42 world’s longest reported distance for a single lightning flash occurred with a horizontal distance 43 of 321 km (199.5 mi) over Oklahoma in 2007, while the world’s longest reported duration for a 44 single lightning flash is an event that lasted continuously for 7.74 seconds over southern France 45 in 2012. 46 Page 2 47 Abstract. A World Meteorological Organization weather and climate extremes committee has 48 judged that the world’s longest reported distance for a single lightning flash occurred with a 49 horizontal distance of 321 km (199.5 mi) over Oklahoma in 2007, while the world’s longest 50 reported duration for a single lightning flash is an event that lasted continuously for 7.74 seconds 51 over southern France in 2012. In addition, the committee has unanimously recommended 52 amendment of the AMS Glossary of Meteorology definition of lightning discharge as a "series of 53 electrical processes taking place within 1 second" by removing the phrase “within one second” 54 and replacing with “continuously.” Validation of these new world extremes (a) demonstrates the 55 recent and on-going dramatic augmentations and improvements to regional lightning detection 56 and measurement networks, (b) provides reinforcement regarding the dangers of lightning, and 57 (c) provides new information for lightning engineering concerns. 58 59 1. Introduction and Suggested Modification of “Lightning Flash” Definition 60 61 Dramatic augmentations and improvements to lightning remote sensing techniques have 62 allowed the detection of previous unobserved extremes in lightning occurrence. As part of the 63 ongoing work of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission for Climatology 64 (CCl) in detection and documentation of global weather extremes (e.g., El Fadli et al. 2013), a 65 critical evaluation of two recent lightning extremes has been undertaken. These two extremes 66 are: (1) the world’s longest detected distance for a single lightning flash, and (2) the world’s 67 longest detected duration for a single lightning flash. Specifically, a WMO CCl evaluation 68 committee has adjudicated that the world’s longest detected distance for a single lightning flash 69 occurred over a horizontal distance of 321 km (199.5 mi) using a maximum great circle distance Page 3 70 between individual detected VHF lightning sources. The event occurred on 20 June 2007 across 71 parts of Oklahoma. They accepted the world’s longest detected duration for a single lightning 72 flash is a single event that lasted continuously for 7.74 seconds on 30 August 2012 over parts of 73 southern France. It should be noted that, as with all WMO evaluations of extremes (e.g., 74 temperature, pressure, wind, etc.), the proposed extremes are identified based on only those 75 events with available quality data and brought to the WMO’s attention by the meteorological 76 community. It is possible, indeed likely, that greater extremes can and have occurred. For 77 example, it is likely that the current highest recorded wind gust extreme of 113.2 m s-1 (253 mph; 78 220 kt) [Barrow Island Australia, 1055 UTC 10/4/1996] can be exceeded by winds in a tornado 79 or similar phenomena. However, the Australian wind gust has been the highest recorded event 80 placed before the WMO for adjudication. When higher extreme events are effectively recorded 81 and brought to the attention of the WMO, subsequent evaluations of those extremes can occur. 82 A critical element in the discussion of these extremes is the fundamental definition of a 83 lightning flash. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) Glossary of Meteorology 84 (American Meteorological Society 2015) defines a lightning flash as “a transient, high-current 85 electric discharge with path lengths measured in kilometers” while a lightning discharge is 86 defined (American Meteorological Society 2015) as “the series of electrical processes taking 87 place within 1 s by which charge is transferred along a discharge channel between electric charge 88 centers of opposite sign within a thundercloud (intracloud flash),
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