ABSTRACT

A thunderstorm is basically a storm,

characterized by lightning and thunder. All
thunderstorms produce lightning (Rahman et
al.). Lightning has an intensity of 200,000,000
volts or more with one inch in diameter and
velocity of one third the speed of light
(RonHolle). Geographic location of Bangladesh is
an indicated zone of natural disaster like storm,
drought, flood etc. Lightning injury is a global
public health problem representing the leading
cause of weather-related death after tornadoes,
flash floods and hurricanes (Dutta & Biswas et
al.). In Bangladesh, Dewan et al identified 3,086
fatalities and 2,382 injuries from 1990 to mid-
2016, for annual averages of 114 fatalities and
89 injuries over the entire period. It may be
mentioned that lightning is the second most
common cause of weather-related death in the
United States (Edlich et al.) and in Bangladesh
too (StS).

Md. Shahadat Hossain Biplab

Roll: AE-044,
MS Session: 2018-19,
Date of Submission: 14th September,
Disaster and Environment Management,

THUNDERSTORM & Department of Geology’

University of Dhaka

LIGHTNING
Introduction:
Lightning is the most spectacular element of a thunderstorm. In fact, it is how
thunderstorms got their name. Lightning causes thunder. Lightning is a discharge of electricity. A single
stroke of lightning can heat the air around it to 30,000°C (54,000°F)!

Thunder is the sharp or rumbling sound that accompanies lightning. It is caused by the intense
heating and expansion of the air along the lightning channel. The rumble of thunder is caused by the noise
arriving from parts of the channel at different distances. For this reason, thunder also lasts longer than the
flash, and because sound speed is relatively low.

How Lightning is Formed:

Lightning can be seen virtually instantaneously as light travels very fast (about 300,000,000
m/s). Lightning can be seen up to 50 miles away. Lightning is produced by discharges of electricity from
cloud to cloud or from cloud to ground.
As ice crystals high within a thunderstorm cloud flow up and down in the turbulent air, they
crash into each other. Small negatively charged particles called electrons are knocked off some ice and
added to other ice as they crash past each other. This separates the positive (+) and negative (-) charges of
the cloud. The top of the cloud becomes positively charged while the base of the cloud becomes
negatively charged. Because opposites attract, the negative charge at the bottom of the storm cloud wants
to link up with the ground’s positive charge. Once the negative charge at the bottom of the cloud gets
large enough, a flow of negative charge called a stepped leader rushes toward the Earth. The positive
charges at the ground are attracted to the stepped leader, so positive charge flows upward from the
ground. When the stepped leader and the positive charge meet, a strong electric current carries positive
charge up into the cloud. This electric current is known as the return stroke. We see it as the bright flash
of a lightning bolt.
Huge quantities of electricity are discharged in lightning flashes and temperatures of over
30,000°C or more can be reached.

How Thunderstorm is Formed:

The extreme heating causes due to lightning leads the air to expand explosively fast. The
expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, known as thunder. For
thunderstorms to occur, cumulonimbus clouds are required. These are heavy, dense, towering clouds with
tops shaped like anvils or vast plumes, where the speed of air rising through the cloud can reach 20m/s.
Pilots tend to fly around these clouds if they can. They can fly around them as often they are only 10-
12km in width. In cumulonimbus clouds weather such as heavy rain, lightning, hail, turbulence and strong
winds can occur.
Types of Lightning:
Types of cloud-to-ground lightning include staccato, forked, ribbon, and bead lightening.

1. Cloud-to-Ground Lightning – Negative: A lightning discharge between cloud and ground

initiated by a downward-moving, negatively-charged stepped leader. The most common CG
flashes are initiated by a downward-moving, negatively-charged stepped leader which is followed
by an upward travelling return stroke. The net effect of this flash is to lower negative charge from
the cloud to the ground. Negative CG lightning strikes can be identified by their distinctive
downward branching.

Fig: Cloud to ground lightning-negative

2. Cloud-to-Ground Lightning – Positive: A lightning discharge between cloud and ground

initiated by a downward-moving, positively-charged leader. The less common CG flashes are
initiated by a downward-moving, positively-charged stepped leader which is followed by an
upward travelling return stroke that lowers the positive charge to earth. Such lightning is usually
associated with supercell thunderstorms and trailing stratiform precipitation regions behind squall
lines. Positive cloud-to-ground lightning strikes are typically very bright (relative to other lightning
activity) and can be identified by their distinct lack of branching near the ground. Thunder from
such lightning is very loud and may sound like a series of deep, low-frequency sonic booms.
Sprites (see side box) are usually associated with more intense positive CGs.
 Fig: Cloud to ground lightning

3. Ground-to-Cloud Lightning: Ground-to-Cloud lightning (sometimes called Upward-moving

lightning) is a discharge between cloud and ground initiated by an upward-moving leader
originating from an object on the ground. Ground-to-Cloud lightning strikes are common on tall
towers and skyscrapers. GC lightning can also be either positive or negative in polarity. Lightning
that demonstrates upward branching is a clear indication of a ground-to-cloud flash.

Fig: Ground to Cloud lightning

4. Intracloud Lightning: The most common type of discharge - lightning inside a single storm
cloud, jumping between different charge regions in the cloud. Intracloud lightning is sometimes
called sheet lightning because it lights up the sky with a 'sheet' of light.

Fig: Intracloud lightning

5. Cloud-to-Cloud (CC) Lightning (or intercloud lightning): Although rare, lightning can
also travel from one cloud to another (or more!). Spider lightning refers to long, horizontal moving
flashes often seen on the underside of stratiform clouds. (Not to be confused with intracloud
lightning within a single cloud).

Fig: Cloud to Cloud Lightning (Intercloud lightning)

6. Anvil Crawlers: Anvil Crawlers are horizontal, tree-like, in-cloud lightning discharges whose
leader propagation is resolvable to the human eye. In other words, the anvil crawler's movement is
slow enough (compared to most lightning discharges) that a human observer or normal-speed
video camera can see its rapid motion across the sky. This type of lightning (sometimes referred to
as 'crawlers' or 'rocket lightning') often cover very large distances, resulting in vast, spectacular
sky-filling discharges.

Fig: Anvil Crawlers

7. Bolt from the Blue: A bolt from the blue (sometimes called 'anvil lightning' or 'anvil-to-ground'
lightning) is a name given to a cloud-to-ground lightning discharge that strikes far away from its
parent thunderstorm. A 'bolt from the blue' typically originates in the highest regions of a
cumulonimbus cloud, traveling horizontally a good distance away from the thunderstorm before
making a vertical descent to earth.

Fig: Bolt from the Blue

8. Cloud-to-Air Lightning: Referring to a discharge (or a portion of a discharge) jumping from a
cloud into clear air.

Fig: Cloud to Air lightning

9. Sprites and Jets: Electrical discharges that occur high above active thunderstorms. Sprites
appear as vertical red columns.

Fig: Sprites and Jets

10. Ball Lightning: Ball Lightning is a rare phenomenon described as a floating, illuminated sphere
that occurs during thunderstorms. It may move fast, slow or stay stationary, it may be quiet or
 produce a hissing or crackling noise, it may pass through windows, last from seconds to minutes,
and disappear slowly or suddenly either quietly or with a loud bang.

Fig: Ball lightning

11. Staccato lightning: is a strike which is a short-duration stroke that often, but not always,
appears as a single very bright flash and often has considerable branching. A cloud-to-ground
lightning flash that consists of only one return stroke.

Fig: Staccato lightning

12. Forked lightning: is a name, not in formal usage, for cloud-to-ground lightning that exhibits
branching of its path.

Fig: Forked lightning

13. Ribbon lightning: occurs in thunderstorms with high cross winds and multiple strokes. The
wind will blow each successive stroke slightly to one side of the previous stroke, causing a ribbon
appearance.

Fig: Ribbon lightning

 14. Bead lightning: appears to break up into a string of short, bright sections. It is relatively rare.

Fig: Bead lightning

15. Heat lightning: Another lightning phrase is “heat lightning”. Heat lightning is a common name
for a lightning flash that appears to produce no discernible thunder because it occurs too far away
for the thunder to be heard. All lightning produces thunder, if a person doesn’t hear it, it is because
the sound waves dissipate before they reach the observer.

Fig: Heat lightning

During the past two decades’ scientists have discovered and confirmed the existence of lightning that
shoots upward into the upper atmosphere from thunderstorms. Red lightning bolts can extend upward
from clouds to near the top of the atmosphere. The red bolts, however, are too quick and weak to be seen
by the naked eye. Blue jets, in contrast, are limited to the stratosphere and last long enough to be seen by
pilots.
Calculating the Distance of Thunderstorm:
Light travels 300 000 kilometers per second, so the flash can be seen immediately. Thunder
starts at the same time, but its sound travels one million times more slowly, about 330 meters per second.
The distance can be estimated by counting the time interval between the lightning flash and the start of
the thunder. If we count seconds and divide them by three, we will get the distance in kilometers (for
example, if we start counting when we see the lightning and get to 9, then the storm is about 3km away).
Thunder is rarely heard at a distance of more than 20 km. The sound can last quite a few seconds.

Most Lightning Stroked Regions in the World:

NASA has been recording just about every lightning strike for much of the past 20 years, and it
has produced a map to show where this phenomenon is most common.
It turns out that the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Lake Maracaibo in northwestern
Venezuela have the most lightning. Both places have a lot of precipitation and the ideal humidity and
atmospheric conditions for thunderstorms to form, according to the NASA Earth Observatory.

Fig: World map showing frequency of lightning strikes, in flashes per square kilometer (km²)
per year (equal-area projection). Lightning strikes most frequently in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Combined 1995–2003 data from the Optical Transient Detector and 1998–2003 data from the
Lightning Imaging Sensor.
 Fig: Lightning strikes worldwide between 1995 and 2013. Areas with the most activity
appear light pink [NASA].

As the map shows above, lightning is much more frequent over land than water, and it is more common in
the tropics, where there is more heat, and thus more energy for producing storms. Areas that are lighter in
color have more lightning, and some places have as much as 150 strikes per square kilometer per year;
one square kilometer is about one-third the size of New York's Central Park.

Season at Which Lightning Strikes More:

The lightning in the Northern hemisphere is most common in June, July and August, and in
the Southern hemisphere in December, January and February. The summer heat provides the energy for
lightning. The annual cycle of observed lightning is measured by the space-based Optical Transient
Detector (OTD). the annual migration of lightning from the southern to northern hemispheres, with peaks
during the hemispheric summer months. Lightning primarily occurs over land due to the strong
differential heating and the resultant thunderstorms.
Impacts of Lightening:
Lightning is not only spectacular, it’s dangerous.
1. About 2,000 people are killed worldwide by lightning each year.
2. Hundreds more survive strikes but suffer from a variety of lasting symptoms, including memory
loss, dizziness, weakness, numbness, and other life-altering ailments.
3. It keeps people in a psychological trauma.
4. Strikes can cause cardiac arrest and severe burns, but 9 of every 10 people survive. The average
American has about a 1 in 5,000 chance of being struck by lightning during a lifetime.
5. Lightning's extreme heat will vaporize the water inside a tree, creating steam that may blow the
tree apart.
6. Cars are havens from lightning—but not for the reason that most believe. Tires conduct current,
as do metal frames that carry a charge harmlessly to the ground.
7. Many houses are grounded by rods and other protection that conduct a lightning bolt's electricity
harmlessly to the ground. Homes may also be inadvertently grounded by plumbing, gutters, or
other materials.
8. Grounded buildings offer protection, but occupants who touch running water or use a landline
phone may be shocked by conducted electricity.
9. When lightning hits a home, there is a risk of fire.
10. Lightning can puncture a roof or tear through the attic. A strike that’s powerful enough can rip off
shingles and gutters.

Benefits of Lightning:
1. Lightning, generally a negatively charged burst of energy, zig-zags from cloud to cloud or
from cloud to ground. The ground has a positive charge, so the positively charged ground
attracts the negative lightning bolt, and when the two meet, it produces a strong electrical
current. This reaction helps our earth maintain its electrical balance as lightning helps
transfer negative charges back to the earth. Without this exchange, the electrical balance
between earth and the atmosphere would disappear in minutes .
2. Lightning helps fertilize plants. Our atmosphere consists of approximately 70% nitrogen,
but this nitrogen exists in a form that plant life cannot use. Lightning strikes help dissolve
this unusable nitrogen in water, which then creates a natural fertilizer that plants can
absorb through their roots.
3. Lightning also produces ozone, a vital gas in our atmosphere that helps shield the planet
from rays of harmful ultraviolet sunlight.

Lightning in Bangladesh:
As per our record, the lightning frequency is gradually rising during the pre-monsoon period
[April-May] since 1981. May has the highest number of lightning-strike deaths in a year in Bangladesh.
The temporal analysis found May as the riskiest month and first half of the day (morning to midday) as
the riskiest time. Spatial analysis indicated wetlands and agricultural farmlands around Bangladesh are at
high risk, mostly due to the absence of any tall tree or pole. Sunamganj thought to be the riskiest area and
most fatality occurs at Chapai Nawabganj.

Statistical Data of Lightning in Bangladesh:

Fig: lightning fatality in Bangladesh (1990-2017) [[updated from Dewan et al., 2017].

During the year 2018 in Bangladesh almost 184 people died in lightening between March and September
[Uddin & Suravi]. And 2019 caused death of at least 142 people till July ('Save the Society’ &
‘bdnews24’).
The most important update to Dewan et al. [2017] is to extend the inter-annual distribution of
fatalities and injuries through the end of 2017. The trend of many more casualties started in 2010 has
indeed continued. The decadal totals are as follows:
• 1990-1999: 30 deaths and 22 injuries per year,
• 2000-2009: 106 deaths and 72 injuries per year,
• 2010-2017: 260 deaths and 211 injuries per year.
 Fig: Fatalities and Injuries from lightning in the year of 2010-2015

By 2015, one of the most discussed issues of the country have been about the increased number of death
from lightning and thunderstorm. According to the Department of Disaster Management (DDM), at least
80 people have been killed by lightning up until just May 13 in that year. At least 645 people were killed
between 2010 and 2015. (Source: The Daily Star report, published on May 14, 2016). On the other hand,
Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) of the Ministry of Disaster Management and
Relief of the Government said in 2016 that a total of 180 people were killed that year due to thunderstorm
(Source: Prothom Alo report, published on September 06, 2016). The actual number is believed to be
much higher, since many incidents go unreported.
Earlier, in Bangladesh, thunder was not regarded as a natural disaster. But considering the massive death
toll in the year 2016, the Government announced it as a natural disaster.

How to stay safe from lightning strikes and reduce losses:

Instant Steps:
- Find shelter immediately (frequently inhabited buildings are best. Also use car).
- Stay away from windows.
- Don’t touch anything metal or electrical.
- Stay inside at least 30 minutes after the last strike.
- "If there is no shelter available, it's best to find a low spot.
- Avoid bodies of water.
- Tents and pavilions are not good options.
- Always check the forecast before heading outside.
- Don't dawdle.
 Long Term Steps:
- Use a home lightning protection system. One of the best ways for homeowners, in
particular, to protect their homes from lightning is to install a home lightning
protection system.
External Protection:
1. Protection system (lightning conductors)
i. Single rod lightning conductor (Franklin rods)
ii. Lightning conductors with spark over device
iii. Lightning conductors with meshed cage
iv. Lightning conductors with earthing wires
2. Electrogeometric model
3. Capture surface areas
4. Down conductors
5. Earthing system

Internal Protection:
1. Active and passive protection of the installation
2. Lightning strike withstand of equipment

- Install transient voltage surge suppressors.

- Unplug electronics and appliances
- Check homeowners and renters’ insurance coverage
- Thunderstorm and lightning are directly related to dust through cloud forming
process. So taking care of nature is must to do.
- Climate change and its impact should be mitigated through taking proper plans in
hand.
- Palm trees can be planted in rural areas as a part of long term action

Conclusion:
Lightning injury caused as, Direct strike - 3 to 5%, Contact injury - 3 to 5%, Side flash - 30 to
35%, Ground current - 50 to 55%, Upward leader - 10 to 15%, Blunt injury – unknown (Cooper and
Holle, 2010). So, for the structures a high lightning protection is required to protect the human life and all
expensive equipments that serve the people and that is essential for day to day.
References:
• Ackerman, S.A. and Martin, J. Are there different types of lightning?. October 2013.
• Barrow, C. 7 lightning safety tips if you’re caught outside during a thunderstorm. July, 2019.
• FINNISH METEOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE. Lightning and thunderstorm.
• Holle, R. L. et al. Lightning Fatalities and Injuries in Bangladesh from 1990 through 2017. May 2018.
• Jahan, N. Lightning: The New Natural Disaster. September 30, 2016.
• Kerr, L. Lightning Brings Benefits as Well As Troubles. April, 2012.
• MAIN, D. NASA MAP SHOWS WHERE LIGHTNING STRIKES MOST AROUND THE WORLD.
July, 2015.
• National Geographic. Environment natural-disasters: lightning.
• NESTA. Thunder and Lightning. 2011 UCAR.
• Rahman, S.M.M. Thunderstorms and Lightning in Bangladesh.
• Robinson, D. Lightning Types and Classifications.
• Royal Meteorological Society. THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.
• Shivalli, S. Lightning Phenomenon, Effects and Protection of Structures from Lightning. Volume 11,
Issue 3Ver. I (May. – Jun. 2016), PP 44-50.
• Tasin, F. and Roy, P. Lightning strikes most in May in Bangladesh. May 23, 2015.
• Uddin, M.H. & Suravi, R.H. THE RISE OF A NEW DISASTER IN BANGLADESH: ANALYSIS OF
CHARACTERISTICS AND VULNERABILITIES OF LIGHTNING DURING MARCH TO
SEPTEMBER 2018. January 2019.
• https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning/faq/