Owner's manual

R E A L - T I M E L I G H T N I N G D E T E C T I O N
227
227227
227
Appendix A
A Lightning Primer
Thunderstorms and Lightning Types •
Recognizing Patterns of Strokes • Lightning
as an Indicator of Storm Behavior • The
Stroke Sort Process and Other Limitations •
Additional Information Sources
Thunderstorms and Lightning
Types
Isolated Thunderstorm Cell
This examination of thunderstorms will focus on the charge
distributions and as a result the types of lightning produced.
The charge distribution on the next page (#1) is considered to
be the normal charge distribution in a normal single cell
storm. In the figure there are two main charge layers, an
upper positive charge above the main lower negative charge.
This pair is called a normal dipole. There is a smaller positive
charge below the main negative charge, so the whole charge
structure could be called a tripole, but we’ll ignore the lower
positive charge for now.