Thunderstorm Characteristics during the Ontario Winter Lake-Effect Systems Project

AbstractThe Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems (OWLeS) field campaign during the winter season of 2013-14 provided unprecedented data with regards to the structure and behavior of long lake-axis-parallel (LLAP) lake-effect storms. One of the interesting characteristics of LLAP storm bands is their ability to initiate lightning. The OWLeS datasets provide an opportunity to more thoroughly examine the kinematics and microphysics of lake-effect thunder-snow-storms than ever before.The OWLeS facilities and field personnel observed six lake-effect thunderstorms during December − January 2013-14. Most of them produced very little lightning (< 6 NLDN cloud-to-ground strokes or intra-cloud pulses). However, the 7 January 2014 storm had over 50 strokes and pulses resulting in 20 flashes over a 6 hr period (0630 − 1230 UTC), making this the most electrically active storm during the field campaign. Compared to the 18 December 2013 storm, which only had 3 flashes, the 7 January 2014 case had a deeper boundary layer a...