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The Arctic, which is north of 65 degrees latitude, has had an average number of lightning strikes per year for the past decade. However it is increasing in extreme north. Chris Vagasky is a meteorologist and lightning application manager at Vaisala. He said that a warming planet is causing more lightning to occur in the Arctic.
“What we’ve been watching is that lightning, thunderstorms are developing over Siberia. Then they move out over Arctic Ocean moving very far north,” Vagasky stated to CNN. He added that “the warm and humid air from all continents now goes out over Arctic Ocean. They’re also persisting over Arctic Ocean, so that there are storms that are developing.”
Jose Martinez-Claros is a researcher at University of California, San Diego’s Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes. He said that the findings are “concerning.”
He said that it seemed to suggest that these types of storms are now reaching latitudes much higher than they used too, and closer to the Arctic because of the warming and drying climate.
Vagasky stated that “We know the Arctic is changing faster with respect to its climate than the rest of Earth.” “We can monitor the trends in lightning strikes and thunderstorms in this remote region to see where warm, moist air intrusions may be occurring.”
According to the Vaisala report in which more than 194,000,000 lightning strokes were recorded in the USA in 2021 — 24 millions more than was observed in 2020 — lightning in the US also increased in 2021.
More than 1,000,000 of them occurred in December, when they were combined with several winter severe weather outbreaks that devastated the Central and Southern US. Vagasky noted that it was the highest number ever recorded in December 2015, adding that “even in December, you might be receiving spring-or-summer-type conditions.”
Vaisala reports that Texas had the highest number of lightning events in the US last ye. This is mainly due to its large size and storm-prone climate. Florida was home to the highest lightning frequency of any state, with 223 lightning incidents per square mile. Texas and Louisiana were close behind.
Vaisala has been detecting lightning around the world since 2012, and in the US for almost 40 years. Vaisala claims that the network detects more lightning events worldwide each year than 2 billion. This includes a 2019 lightning strike located 32 miles from North Pole. This event set a Guinness World Record for being the most northernly detected lightning stroke.
Vagasky stated that all weather is local. “These drastic changes, especially in the Arctic, are not only affecting the Arctic. The Earth is completely interconnected.
