Evaluation of Total Lightning Data in the Aviation Weather Testbed

As total lightning detection and application becomes more relevant, especially to aviation operations, it is important to develop displays whereby forecasters quickly interpret that information.. Many of our convective products (i.e., CAWS, Convective SIGMET) at the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) rely on lightning information for situational awareness, forecast production, and forecast verification. With the addition of national and global scale total lightning data, the Aviation Weather Testbed at AWC is expanding the use of lightning information for internal applications supporting its mission for optimal aviation safety and efficiency. As part of the Aviation Weather Testbed 2015 Summer Experiment, different lightning datasets and presentations were evaluated for use in an operational context to support aviation. Experimental sets include the use of gridded total lightning datasets such as gridded stroke density in an operational context for the production and evaluation of convective forecast products. Further, lightning data is used to verify both domestic and international forecasts serving a dual purpose of validation and calibration.