Electric fields produced by Florida thunderstorms

Abstract

Twenty-five field mill sites provided data on the electric fields produced during both the intense and the final, less active periods of summer air mass thunderstorms in east central Florida. During the periods of intense lightning activity, time- and area-averaged fields were usually -0.8 to -2.1 kV/m, while for the less active periods, the field values were typically in the range of -2.3 to -4.3 kV/m. Furthermore, during the active storm periods, which represented about 27% of the total storm durations, about 71% of all lightning discharges occurred. Also, fewer lightning discharges in the final storm period than in the active period reached the ground.