Boltek Lightning/2000 - Manual (Page 242)

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Other Storm Types
In limited cases lightning can also indicate a change in the
character of a hurricane. Lightning production in hurricanes
is usually minimal except during intensification of the storm
as it passes over warmer water, then there will be bursts of
lightning activity in the inner wall near the eye. Or if the
hurricane changes in structure as it comes onshore, then a
tornado producing cell may be generated in the outer wall.
Winter storms also have a different lightning characteristic.
In winter storms the freezing level occurs at a lower altitude
than in a summer storm, so both the negative and positive
charge centers occur at a lower altitude. In addition the
positive charge is offset from the negative charge. In this case
there will be a larger number of +CG flashes, 25% to 40% in
a normal winter thunderstorm cell but the total flash count
(all types and polarities) will usually be smaller than for a
summer storm.
In all of these cases above, the numbers apply to a single
storm cell. In multicell storms the separation of the statistics
of individual cells may not be possible.
The Stroke Sort Process and
Other Limitations
There are a few limitations in the method of stroke
classification in Lightning/2000. The classification between –
CG and –IC will be generally about 70-90% accurate.
Differentiation between +CG and +IC can be less accurate (a
+IC will masquerade as a low amplitude +CG, just as in some
networks of lightning detectors).
If there are major distortions in the signal caused by large
horizontal segments in the stroke, the classification accuracy