Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Characteristics of Urban Lightning Hazards for Atlanta, Georgia

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Weather-related hazards are the result of interactions between the physicalenvironment and the demographics of the community that experience them.Numerous studies have documented urban heat island (UHI) modification ofcloud-to-ground lightning flash densities, but none have linked flashes to theunderlying demographics. In this study, I compared flash and housing densitiesfor 25 counties encompassing Atlanta, Georgia, using ordination andcartographic visualization. Over the interval 1992-2000, two denselypopulated suburban counties downwind from Atlanta (Gwinnett and Dekalb)exhibited the highest cloud-to-ground flash densities. By contrast, highpopulation density counties located upwind (Cobb) and encircling the centralcity (Fulton) had relatively lower flash densities. Based on the interactionsamong demographics, flash density, and geographic position for a subset ofcounties, I outline four types of urban lightning hazards: emergent,UHI-augmented, UHI-suppressed, and non-interactive. For urban lightninghazards, the often invoked idea of `more people equals more hazards' is to anextent simplistic. Urban areas have a large range of lightning hazards asheating nodes emerge, intensify, and shift in response to historicallycontingent patterns of growth.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Areito, J., Ezcurra, A., and Herrero, I.: 2001, 'Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Characteristics in the Spanish Basque Country Area during the Period 1992-1996', J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys. 63, 1005-1015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baik, J. J., Kim, Y. H., and Chun, H. Y.: 2001, 'Dry and Moist Convection Forced by an Urban Heat Island', J. Appl. Meteorol. 40, 1462-1475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bornstein, R. and LeRoy, M.: 1990, 'Urban Barrier Effects on Convective and Frontal Thunder-storms', Proceedings of the Fourth American Meteorological Society Conference on Mesoscale Processes, Boulder, CO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bornstein, R. and Lin, Q.: 2000, 'Urban Heat Islands and Summertime Convective Thunderstorms in Atlanta: Three Case Studies', Atmos. Environ. 34, 507-516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, J.: 2001, Map Use and Analysis, McGraw-Hill, Boston, p. 172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Changnon, S. A.: 1981, METROMEX: A Review and Summary, American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Changnon, S. A.: 2001, 'Assessment of Historical Thunderstorm Data for Urban Effects: the Chicago Case', Clim. Change 49, 161-169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Changnon, S. A. and Changnon, D.: 1998, 'Evaluation of Weather Catastrophe Data for Use in Climate Change Investigations', Clim. Change 38, 435-445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Changnon, S. A. and Changnon, D.: 1999, 'Record-High Losses for Weather Disasters in the United States During the 1990s: How Excessive and Why?', Nat. Hazards 18, 287-300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Changnon, S. A., Pielke, R. A., Changnon, D., Sylves, R. T., and Pulwarty, R.: 2000, 'Human Factors Explain the Increased Losses from Weather and Climatic Extremes', Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 81, 437-442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, K. L., Murphy, M. J., Bardo, E. A., Hiscox, W. L., Pyle, R. B., and Pifer, A. E.: 1998, 'A Combined TOA/MDF Technology Upgrade of the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network', J. Geophys. Res. 103, 9035-9044.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curran, E. B., Holle, R. L., and López, R. E.: 2000, 'Lightning Casualties and Damages in the United States from 1959 to 1004', J. Climate 13, 3448-3464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dabberdt, W. F., Hales, J., Zubrick, S., Crook, A., Krajewski, W., Doran, J. C., Mueller, C., King, C., Keener, R. N., Bornstein, R., Rodenhuis, D., Kocin, P., Rossetti, M. A., Sharrocks, F., and Stanley, Sr., E. M.: 2000, 'Forecast Issues in the Urban Zone: Report of the 10th Prospectus Development Team of the U.S. Weather Research Program', Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 81, 2047-2064.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterling, D. R.: 1999, 'Development of Regional Climate Scenarios Using a Downscaling Approach', Clim. Change 41, 615-634.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ESRI: 1998, Environmental and Scientific Research Institute Arcview GIS, Version 3.2, Redlands, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frei, A. and Robinson, D. A.: 1999, 'Northern Hemisphere Snow Extent: Regional Variability 1972-1994', Int. J. Clim. 19, 1535-1560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, S. J., Buechler, D. E., Knupp, K., Driscoll, K., and McCaul, E. W.: 2000, 'The El Niño Event and Related Wintertime Lightning Variations in the Southeastern United States', Geophys. Res. Lett. 27, 541-544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holle, R. L., López, R. E., Arnold, L. J., and Endres, J.: 1996, 'Insured Lightning-Caused Property Damage in Three Western States', J. Appl. Meteorol. 35, 1344-1351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huff, F. A. and Changnon, S. A.: 1973, 'Precipitation Modification by Major Urban Areas', Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 54, 1220-1232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legendre, P. and Legendre, L.: 1998, Numerical Ecology, Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Livingston, E. S., Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., and Orville, R. E.: 1996, 'A Climatology, Synoptic As-sessment, and Thermodynamic Evaluation for Cloud-to-Ground Lightning in Georgia: A Study for the 1996 Summer Olympics', Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 77, 1483-1495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manly, B. F. J.: 1994, Multivariate Statistical Methods: A Primer, Chapman and Hall, London.

  • McCune, B. and Mefford, M. J.: 1999, PC-ORD: Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data Version 4, MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mileti, D. S.: 1999, Disasters by Design: A Reassessment of Natural Hazards in the United States, Joseph Henry Press, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orville, R. E. and Huffines, G. R.: 1999, 'Lightning Ground Flash Measurements over the Contiguous United States: 1995-97', Mon. Wea. Rev. 12, 2693-2703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orville, R. E. and Huffines, G. R.: 2001, 'Cloud-to-Ground Lightning in the United States: NLDN Results in the First Decade, 1989-98', Mon. Wea. Rev. 29, 1179-1193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orville, R. E., Huffines, G., Nielsen-Gammon, J., Zhang, R. Y., Ely, B., Steiger, S., Phillips, S., Allen, S., and Read, W.: 2001, 'Enhancement of Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Over Houston, Texas', Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 2597-2600.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pielke, R. A., Lee, T. J., Copeland, J. H., Eastman, J. L., Ziegler, C. L., and Finley, C. A.: 1997, 'Use of USGS-Provided Data to Improve Weather and Climate Simulations', Ecol. Appl. 7, 3-21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quattrochi, D. A. and Luvall, J. C.: 1999, 'Urban Sprawl and Urban Pall: Assessing the Impacts of Atlanta's Growth on Meteorology and Air Quality Using Remote Sensing and GIS', Geo Info Systems 9, 26-33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, A. H., Morrison, J. L., Muehrcke, P. C., Kimerling, A. J., and Guptil, S. C.: 1995, Elements of Cartography, John Wiley and Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stallins, J. A.: 2002, 'An Overlooked Source of Weather-Related Property Damage in the Southeast: Lightning Losses for Georgia 1996-2000', Southeastern Geographer 42, 349-354.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steiger, S. M., Orville, R. E., and Huffines, G.: 2002, 'Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Characteristics over Houston, Texas: 1989-2000', J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 107.

  • Stone, B. and Rodgers, M. O.: 2001, 'Urban Form and Thermal Efficiency', J. Am. Plann. Assoc. 67, 186-198.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Census Bureau: 2002, United States Census 2000, <http://www.census.gov/>

  • Watson, A. I. and Holle, R. L.: 1996, 'An Eight-Year Lightning Climatology of the Southeast United States Prepared for the 1996 Summer Olympics', Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 77, 883-890.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wescott, N. E.: 1995, 'Summertime Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Activity Around Major Midwestern Urban Areas', J. Appl. Meteorol. 34, 1633-1642.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, G. F. and Haas, J. E.: 1975, Assessment of Research on Natural Hazards, MIT, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, X. and Lo, C. P.: 2002, 'Using a Time Series of Satellite Imagery to Detect Land Use and Land Cover Changes in the Atlanta, Georgia Metropolitan Area', Int. J. Remote. Sens. 23, 1775-1798.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Florida State University, Room 323 Bellamy Building, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, U.S.A

    J. Anthony Stallins

Authors
  1. J. Anthony Stallins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Stallins, J.A. Characteristics of Urban Lightning Hazards for Atlanta, Georgia. Climatic Change 66, 137–150 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLIM.0000043135.13801.71

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLIM.0000043135.13801.71

Keywords

Search

Navigation