Boltek Lightning/2000 - Manual (Page 42)

L I G H T N I N G / 2 0 0 0
42 42 42 42
Individual thunderstorms may occupy a large area, but
frequently the area of the storm that is producing the bulk of
the lightning is quite small. A single storm may have a
number of lightning producing areas. Heavy lightning
production doesn’t always correlate with the severity of the
storm, and a low level of lightning doesn’t always mean a
storm should not be monitored.
Lightning/2000 is one more tool in your arsenal of tools that
can be used to gauge the severity of approaching storms.
Using it as your only source of weather data is not advisable
however.
At the current time it isn’t possible for Lightning/2000 (or
any other single-antenna lightning detection system) to detect
a storm that’s “hidden” behind a nearer storm if they are both
in the same direction. This is perhaps the most common
reason for inaccurate ranging of storms. If two storms lie
along the same line of azimuth, the result in the analysis
window will be a single storm that lies midway between the
two.
We use the gross features of lightning strokes to determine
their range. The analysis performed is similar to statistical
techniques used in predicting election results. Just as it’s ill
advised to make an election prediction based on polling a
small number of voters, the ranging on small storms is only
an approximation. However storms that get ranged closely are
likely to be close no matter how many strokes they contain.
The “squatness” of the storm (the distance between the inner
and outer edges of its range box) is an indicator of how
confident Lightning/2000 is in the ranging. Big storms will
have a more squat appearance than small storms. More
strokes means more confidence in the ranging. Think of the
length of the range box as “error bars” on the range.
This having been said, there’s still the possibility of a bad
ranging taking place. The ranging algorithm isn’t foolproof,