Ronald L. Holle

Vaisala (United States)

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Co-Authors

Raúl E. López

Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

Andrew I. Watson

Bureau of Meteorology

Martin J. Murphy

Vaisala (United States)

Kenneth L. Cummins

Florida Institute of Technology

Ashraf Dewan

Curtin University

Robert Ortiz

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Donald R. MacGorman

NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory

N. Demetriades

Vaisala (United States)

William A. Brooks

Vaisala (United States)

Michael W. Maier

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Medical Center

Cooperative Institutions

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory

NOAA National Weather Service

Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies

University of Oklahoma

Florida State University

University at Albany, State University of New York

Albany State University

University of Utah

University of Miami

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Multiscale Structure and Evolution of an Oklahoma Winter Precipitation Event

Monthly Weather Review (2001)

Robert J. Trapp David M. Schultz Alexander V. Ryzhkov Ronald L. Holle

A significant winter precipitation event occurred on 8–9 March 1994 in Oklahoma. Snow accumulations greater than 30 cm (12 in.) were measured within a narrow corridor in northern Oklahoma. On the synoptic scale and mesoscale, a correspondence between large snow accumulations and 600-hPa frontogenesis was revealed; the precipitation was formed above the cold frontal surface, owing to midtropospheric ascent associated with the cross-frontal circulation in a region of elevated conditional instability. The location of such a narrow corridor of large accumulations was not, however, disclosed by any patterns in the radar reflectivity data. Indeed, during this event, an elongated maximum of snow accumulation was not associated with a persistent "band" of enhanced reflectivity and vice versa. Dual-polarization and dual-Doppler radar data allowed for a novel analysis of winter precipitation processes and structures, within the context of the larger-scale diagnosis. It was possible to identify, in order of distance southward toward the surface cold front: (i) an elevated convective element, which was classified as an elevated thunderstorm and may have functioned as an ice crystal "generator" cell, embedded within a broad region of generally stratiform precipitation; (ii) a reflectivity band and associated rain–snow transition zone, the evolution and structure of which apparently were coupled to the effects of melting precipitation and strong vertical wind shear; and (iii) a mixed-phase precipitation-generating, prolific lightning-producing, nonelevated thunderstorm cell that was sustained in the postfrontal air in part by virtue of its rotational dynamics.

Precipitation types

Cold front

10.1175/1520-0493(2001)129<0486:msaeoa>2.0.co;2

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Citations (46)

Lightning activity related to satellite and radar observations of a mesoscale convective system over Texas on 7–8 April 2002

Atmospheric Research (2005)

Nikolai Dotzek Robert M. Rabin Lawrence D. Carey Donald R. MacGorman Tracy L. McCormick

Mesoscale convective system

Lightning detection

Supercell

Mesocyclone

Convective storm detection

Squall line

Lightning

10.1016/j.atmosres.2004.11.020

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Citations (61)

The Relationship of Lightning to Surface Convergence at Kennedy Space Center: A Preliminary Study

Weather and Forecasting (1987)

Andrew I. Watson Raúl E. López Ronald L. Holle John R. Daugherty

Abstract Cloud-to-ground lightning is a significant meteorological problem at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Of particular importance is the growth of lightning-bearing clouds in the vicinity of KSC, for which warnings must be considered on a daily basis. In this study, lightning was related in time and space with surface convergence for 42 days during the summer of 1983 over a 280 km2 analysis area at KSC. Several events are examined in detail. Previous studies in south Florida have shown that a signature in the surface convergence field frequently precedes convective precipitation; however, the 1983 KSC data constitute the first dataset interrelating the surface wind field, radar echoes, and lightning. It is emphasized that a larger surface-wind network is needed to validate these preliminary result, together with monitoring and understanding the synoptic-scale situation based on upper-air and other reports in the region.

Lightning

Center (category theory)

10.1175/1520-0434(1987)002<0140:trolts>2.0.co;2

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Citations (18)

A preliminary evaluation of short-term thunderstorm forecasting using surface winds at Kennedy Space Center

Andrew I. Watson Ronald L. Holle Raúl E. López James R. Nicholson

In 1987 NASA expanded its surface wind network onto the mainland west of Kennedy Space Center, increasing the network area from nearly 800 sq km to over 1600 sq km. Here, the results of this expansion are reported using three years of wind and lightning information collected during June, July, August, and September of 1987, 1988, and 1989. The divergence-lightning relationships and the importance of wind direction are addressed, and the verification is summarized.

Lightning

Source

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Observations and comments on two simultaneous cloud holes over Miami

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (1969)

H. M. Johnson Ronald L. Holle

A pair of large, almost perfectly circular cloud holes were observed and photographed during their formation, growth and dissipation directly over Miami, Fla., on 1 December 1967.These were strikingly similar to the "Hole-in-Cloud" cases reported in recent issues of WEATHERWISE (Vol.21, Nos. 4, 5, 6) and in the BULLETIN OF THE AMS (Vol.49, No. 10).The two holes formed in a rather high and thin layer of altocumulus (altocumulus stratiformis translucidus perlucidus), a water droplet cloud.The Miami radiosonde data for 1200 GMT (0700 EST) indicate a temperature inversion and a moisture maximum at about 450 mb, or 21,000 ft, our estimated height of the cloud layer.At this level the temperature was about -16C, and the wind was from the west-northwest with a speed of 25-30 kt.The layer was an apparently isolated, notably homogeneous, rather large patch or band of altocumulus, with an approximately WSW-ENE long axis.It formed a "broken" sky condition at 0830 EST (when its central part was overhead), and was moving southeastward fairly rapidly (at an estimated 25 kt).The ESSA VI satellite picture for about 1545 GMT showed the presence of a rather indistinct formation of thin middle clouds mainly east of Miami which were connected with the western limit of a narrow, oceanic, cold frontal cloud band.

Miami

10.1175/1520-0477-50.3.157

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Citations (5)

Four-Dimensional Holograms from Time-Lapse Cinematography

Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology (1985)

Ronald L. Holle Mark Diamond

New techniques in holography allow standard motion picture film to be converted to holograms that are visible with standard light sources. Time-lapse photographs of clouds have been converted to two types of holograms. One hologram was made from film taken by a camera at the ground. and shows, in a wall-mounted unit, cloud growth and movement. The other was made from film taken by an aircraft side camera during a cloud circumnavigation, and displays the four-dimensional structure of a cumulonimbus in circular hologram. The potential is described for similar products to be derived from other data sources relevant to meteorology.

Cinematography

Motion picture

10.1175/1520-0426(1985)002<0420:fdhftl>2.0.co;2

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Citations (2)

Lightning in the North American Monsoon: An Exploratory Climatology

Monthly Weather Review (2015)

Ronald L. Holle Martin J. Murphy

Abstract Temporal and spatial distributions of the North American monsoon have been studied previously with rainfall and satellite data. In the current study, the monsoon is examined with lightning data from Vaisala’s Global Lightning Dataset (GLD360). GLD360 has been operating for over three years and provides sufficient data to develop an exploratory climatology with minimal spatial variation in detection efficiency and location accuracy across the North American monsoon region. About 80% of strokes detected by GLD360 are cloud to ground. This paper focuses on seasonal, monthly, and diurnal features of lightning occurrence during the monsoon season from Mazatlán north-northwest to northern Arizona and New Mexico. The goal is to describe thunderstorm frequency with a dataset that provides uniform spatial coverage at a resolution of 2–5 km and uniform temporal coverage with individual lightning events resolved to the millisecond, compared with prior studies that used hourly point rainfall or satellite data with a resolution of several kilometers. The monthly lightning stroke density over northwestern Mexico increases between May and June, as thunderstorms begin over the high terrain east of the Gulf of California. The monthly lightning stroke density over the entire region increases dramatically to a maximum in July and August. The highest stroke densities observed in Mexico approach those observed by GLD360 in subtropical and tropical regions in Africa, Central and South America, and Southeast Asia. The diurnal cycle of lightning exhibits a maximum over the highest terrain near noon, associated with daytime solar heating, a maximum near midnight along the southern coast of the Gulf, and a gradual decay toward sunrise.

Lightning

Noon

Diurnal cycle

10.1175/mwr-d-14-00363.1

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Citations (24)

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (2019)

Ronald L. Holle Ashraf Dewan R. Said William A. Brooks Md. Faruk Hossain

Lightning

Case fatality rate

Vulnerability

10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101264

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Citations (69)

WMO Assessment of Weather and Climate Mortality Extremes: Lightning, Tropical Cyclones, Tornadoes, and Hail

Weather Climate and Society (2017)

Randall S. Cerveny P. Bessemoulin Christopher C. Burt Mary Ann Cooper Cunjie Zhang

Abstract A World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission for Climatology international panel was convened to examine and assess the available evidence associated with five weather-related mortality extremes: 1) lightning (indirect), 2) lightning (direct), 3) tropical cyclones, 4) tornadoes, and 5) hail. After recommending for acceptance of only events after 1873 (the formation of the predecessor of the WMO), the committee evaluated and accepted the following mortality extremes: 1) “highest mortality (indirect strike) associated with lightning” as the 469 people killed in a lightning-caused oil tank fire in Dronka, Egypt, on 2 November 1994; 2) “highest mortality directly associated with a single lightning flash” as the lightning flash that killed 21 people in a hut in Manica Tribal Trust Lands, Zimbabwe (at time of incident, eastern Rhodesia), on 23 December 1975; 3) “highest mortality associated with a tropical cyclone” as the Bangladesh (at time of incident, East Pakistan) cyclone of 12–13 November 1970 with an estimated death toll of 300 000 people; 4) “highest mortality associated with a tornado” as the 26 April 1989 tornado that destroyed the Manikganj district, Bangladesh, with an estimated death toll of 1300 individuals; and 5) “highest mortality associated with a hailstorm” as the storm occurring near Moradabad, India, on 30 April 1888 that killed 246 people. These mortality extremes serve to further atmospheric science by giving baseline mortality values for comparison to future weather-related catastrophes and also allow for adjudication of new meteorological information as it becomes available.

Death toll

Lightning

Lightning detection

Severe weather

10.1175/wcas-d-16-0120.1

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Citations (54)

Three Early Tropical Field Experiments

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (2019)

Michael Garstang Edward J. Zipser Robert G. Ellingson K. L. Warsh Peter L. Grose

Abstract Fifty years ago the Line Islands Experiment was launched to obtain in situ surface, soundings, and aircraft observations in a convectively active region of the tropical oceans close to the nadir point of the new geosynchronous meteorological satellite. Two related tropical field experiments, in 1968 and 1969, followed in the vicinity of Barbados in the western Atlantic. Component parts of these three field experiments are recalled in this presentation that resonated over the subsequent half century.

Nadir

10.1175/bams-d-18-0151.1

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Citations (2)