Analysis of the Lightning During the 2022-23 Lake-Effect Electrification (LEE) Project East of Lake Ontario

The Lake-Effect Electrification (LEE) field project was conducted from 1 September 2022 to 31 March 2023, in which the electrification of lake-effect systems was studied over the eastern region of Lake Ontario. The main goals of the project are to better understand the electrical charge structure and any associated lightning in lake-effect storms and to determine if the wind turbines on the Tug Hill Plateau cause a shift in the frequency and location of lightning east of Lake Ontario. There were 11 Intensive Observation Periods (IOPs), with 3 IOPs having lightning occurring within their duration, and the greatest flash rate of 26 flashes per hour was observed on 20 November 2022 (IOP3). An association between man-made towers and lightning was observed through manual analysis of lightning mapping array (LMA) data plots. Tower-lightning interactions during IOP3 were studied in depth as this IOP had the most lightning (also near multiple wind turbine fields). About 50% of the flashes during this IOP were associated with nearby towers, with several towers having a higher frequency of associated lightning flashes than others. The flashes recorded during IOP3, as well as other similar events, propagated southwest towards the lake or northeast along the lake-effect band. There is a larger error for altitude than horizontal positioning, especially for locations far (>50 km) from the LMA stations. One example showing this error was the lightning that struck the Oswego power stacks on 20 November 2022. The closest (horizontally) source the LMAs detected for this flash was 0.15 km horizontally and 1.7 km vertically from the stack.