Development of a Lightning Climatology for Oklahoma using Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array Data

The Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array (OK-LMA) has been collecting spatial and temporal locations of very high frequency (VHF) radiation sources produced by all types of lightning in central Oklahoma since the spring of 2003. These VHF sources have been used to produce climatology maps of lightning within the 200-km range of the OK-LMA. Because the minimum radiated signal strength that can be detected by a station increases with range from the station, it is necessary to correct for the resulting bias when developing a climatology. A correction for this bias was developed by analyzing the power spectrum of radiated VHF source strength at various range intervals from the center of the OK-LMA. Monthly, annual, and seasonal plots of lightning have been created with 10 km horizontal resolution. Observations of the geographic, seasonal and interannual variations in lightning activity will be presented.