Africa: Climate change would result in lighting attack far more frequently in the world but the researchers have no idea that which part of the world could become victim of it.
New research from the University of California, Berkeley, published on Thursday in the journal Science, found warming conditions would result in 50% more lightning strikes by the end of the century.
“For every two lightning strikes you had at the beginning of the century, we will have three at the end of the century,” said David Romps, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.
Researchers have known for some time that climate change was producing more lightning strikes, and fatalities in developing countries have been rising in recent years. But the latest findings put a number on that rate of increase, using data from federal government scientific agencies.
The scientists found lightning strikes would increase by about 12% for every 1C of warming, resulting in about 50% more strikes by 2100.
At this point, however, the scientists are unable to predict where or when those strikes will occur.In the continental US, lightning strikes are especially common in the mid-west and the Tampa Bay area of Florida, so-called lightning alley.
The findings provide further evidence that climate change is having far greater effects on weather patterns than initially anticipated.
The researchers used data from federal government agencies to establish the connection between warming temperatures, more energetic storms, and