Lightning and Radar Structure of Lake-effect Storms during the 2022-23 Lake-Effect Electrification (LEE) Study

The Lake-Effect Electrification (LEE) field campaign occurred during the 2022-23 cool season across the eastern Lake Ontario region. Lightning flashes, observed by the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) lightning mapping arrays (LMAs), were overlaid onto the horizontal and vertical cross sections of dual-polarimetric Doppler on Wheels (DOW)/NEXRAD radar variables to determine relationships between the kinematics, microphysics, and electrification of lake-effect storms. Some of the findings include: thunderstorms with anvil structures embedded in lake-effect precipitation bands, flashes propagating through the greatest reflectivity horizontally, but along a reflectivity gradient in the vertical, bi-level lightning with the upper-level flash segment situated above the storm, perhaps in a screening layer, isolated lightning activity within a horizontal vortex, lightning within enhanced specific differential phase (KDP) and within near 0 or negative differential reflectivity (ZDR). The lightning relation to KDP indicates that lightning occurs in charge regions where dendrites are located, but the relationship to ZDR suggests flashes occur in regions of dendritic clumps and/or graupel.