Combined Climatology of Lightning and Radar Data for Central Europe

Central Europe is a region with highly variable thunderstorm activity. The annual number of thunderstorm days in this area varies between 13 days in the northern parts and 26 days in the alpine region with a high interannual variability. Around the half of all storms are related to frontal systems. The northern parts have a considerable number of winter thunderstorms. Basing on lightning location data for the years 1992-2003 a climatology of lightning and storm occurrence is presented. The geographical distribution is analyzed, particularly with respect to orography and the regions where the storm development starts. The statistical distribution of lightning is compared against the convective precipitation amount as derived from operational radar data and ground observations. The correlation to the various stability indices is critically analyzed. Since 2003 the data from a newly installed SAFIR system for an area of 200km x 200km in Northern Germany are available. SAFIR data contain both cloud-to-ground and intracloud lightning. A comparing statistical analysis of these data is given with emphasis to the temporal evolution of both types of lightning.