On the relationship between cloud‐to‐ground lightning and convective rainfall

Abstract

Ratios of area mean rainfall and cloud‐to‐ground lightning flash count (termed “rain yields”) were computed for several different locations around the globe, over temporal and spatial scales of 1 month and 10 4 –10 5 km 2 , respectively. Values of the rain yield clustered near 10 8 kg/fl for a large portion of the midcontinental United States. Rain yields were slightly lower over the arid southwestern United States, averaging ∼6×10 7 kg/fl. In tropical locations the rain yields increased systematically from a tropical continental value of 4×10 8 kg/fl to a value of 10 10 kg/fl for the tropical western Pacific Ocean. The observed stability of the rain yield, coupled with demonstrated positive correlations between cloud‐to‐ground flash density and rainfall amount, suggests that cloud‐to‐ground lightning data may be useful for inferring monthly convective rainfall statistics in certain rainfall regimes.