A New Lightning Climatology for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and NASA Kennedy Space Center

A new lightning climatology was developed for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) and NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC).  The purpose of this climatology is to update and improve lightning risk assessment.  In particular, a method was developed to infer a new parameter, the density of lightning ground contact points, which is more useful than other parameters in risk assessment.  Nineteen years (1997-2015) of cloud-to-ground lightning data were used from the National Lightning Detection Network.  This period was chosen to provide a large enough sample size for reliable results and since the performance of NLDN has been relatively stable after a major upgrade in 1996, though with continual incremental improvements.  The climatology is displayed on maps showing 1 km x 1 km squares within about 30 nmi of CCAFS/KSC.  The maps show the following the lightning parameters:  flash density, stroke density, ground contact density, multiplicity, and mean peak current.

In addition, the first total lightning flash density climatology for this area was developed using the 2010-2015 data from Earth Networks Total Lightning Network.  This data is more useful is assessing the risk of lightning affecting operations since 45 WS lightning warnings are issued for any lightning, including lightning aloft.

These climatologies were built by the 14th Weather Squadron, the Air Force climatology center.

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