The United States will likely to experience more lightning strikes in the future with an increase by nearly fifty percent by the end of the century as the world's climate changes. According to the latest study, researchers have calculated just how much lightning flashes increase as due to global warming.
"For every two lightning strikes you had at the beginning of the century, we will have three at the end of the century," a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, David Romps said. "It's a substantial increase."
Due to global warming, researchers predicted that lighting will strike more frequently in the US in the future. However, they can still not predict exactly when or where those lightning strikes will transpire. The new research was published Thursday in the Science Journals of Science Mag.org.
The University of California, Berkeley, conducted the new research. As reported by The Guardian, researchers have known for some time that climate change was generating more lightning strikes and fatalities in developing nations like the US.
According to the researchers, they have found a 12 percent increase in lightning activity for every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) of warming in the atmosphere. Live Science said scientists expect the century to end with global temperatures that are about 7 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) higher than current global temperatures without emission cuts.
In the United States, about 25 million lightning flashes are recorded annually. And since lightning strikes often trigger wildfires, the onslaught could mean more fire damage in the future.
"This is yet another noticeable change to climate and weather in the US if we stay on our current [emissions] trajectory," Romps stated. "It's certainly reasonable that a 50 percent increase will lead to an increase in wildfires."
The researchers based their predictions on the weather data from across the US in 2011. Yahoo News! reported the new study shows that at any given level of rainfall intensity, there will more lightning in the future.
As said by Romps, the key to more lightning strikes is that warmer air holds more water vapor. And water vapor fuels thunderstorms, triggering more lightning. He also added the energy that storms get from vapor is the biggest driver in increasing lightning strikes in the future.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric severe storm meteorologist Harold Brooks said the research makes sense. Several meteorologists also stated the result is highly significant since it means more natural triggers for dangerous wildfires that are already foreseen to get worse with global warming.
According to the National Weather Service, lightning strikes kill a few dozen of people in the US each year. And more lightning can lead to an increase of wildfires. Last year, a lightning strike caused the deadliest wildfire in the US in 20 years that have killed 19 firefighters near Yarnell, Arizona.
Due to climate change, the US will experience more lightning in the future. And the research just showed the long-term effects of global warming have unwelcome and significant surprises in store for the world.
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