Project Title: Characterizing Spatiotemporal Variability of Lightnings

Project Description: Lightning is frequently produced by convection – violent upward and downward wind in the atmosphere that occur in hazardous weather such as thunderstorms and hurricanes. The existence of lightning is also indicative of the existence of convection, and sometimes how strong the upward and downward wind is. In this project, we will be looking at how the distribution of lightnings across the continental United States changes with respect to space and time. We will use 35 years of lightning observations from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) that covers 1987 through 2021. We will first identify major hotspots of lightning strikes throughout this entire period, then we will break out this distribution into more detailed variabilities: Are the hotspots stay the same in different years? Are there any additional hotspots that only appear in particular years? In what seasons or months there are more lightning strikes? How does this change throughout the year from the first day to the last day? Are the lightnings more frequently occurred in mountains, or plains, or seashores? We expect you to ask your own questions, and find the answers by yourself in this project.