System and method for lightning strike prediction and warning
First Claim
1. A system for predicting lightning, comprising:
- a device having a processor, display and user input capability;
receiving at said device a user defined area of concern for lightning strike activity;
the device collecting vertical temperature data for said defined area of concern from one or more weather temperature models;
said device operable to calculate the lightning formation critical lower bound height and critical upper bound height;
calculating a critical updraft temperature height by utilizing pre-determined instability parameters to determine the critical updraft temperature height within a storm cloud and setting the calculated critical updraft temperature height as the critical upper bound height;
receiving at said device radar reflectivity data for said defined area of concern;
parsing radar reflectivity from individual radar reflectivity scan data;
associating parsed radar reflectivity with said lower bound height and said upper bound height;
compare the parsed radar reflectivity associated with said lower bound height and said upper bound height against a pre-set lighting strike threshold value;
when the pre-set lightning strike threshold value is exceeded, formatting at least a lightning strike warning and time until strike warning for said defined area of concern to at least one user;
said device transmitting said lightning strike warning and said time until strike warning to the at least one user.
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Abstract
This document presents a system and method for gathering weather data and utilizing that weather data to calculation the upper and lower limits of the lightning formation range within a thunderstorm or storm system. The calculation may provide a probability for the beginning of lightning formation and lightning strikes for a geographic area for a given time period in sufficient time to permit alerts of lightning activity to be formulated and sent to users of the system. Equally, the system may calculate the probability of the cessation of lightning activity for a given geographic area at a specific time. The probability of both beginning and cessation of lightning activity may be provided at greater than 99% confidence.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for predicting lightning, comprising:
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a device having a processor, display and user input capability; receiving at said device a user defined area of concern for lightning strike activity; the device collecting vertical temperature data for said defined area of concern from one or more weather temperature models; said device operable to calculate the lightning formation critical lower bound height and critical upper bound height; calculating a critical updraft temperature height by utilizing pre-determined instability parameters to determine the critical updraft temperature height within a storm cloud and setting the calculated critical updraft temperature height as the critical upper bound height; receiving at said device radar reflectivity data for said defined area of concern; parsing radar reflectivity from individual radar reflectivity scan data; associating parsed radar reflectivity with said lower bound height and said upper bound height; compare the parsed radar reflectivity associated with said lower bound height and said upper bound height against a pre-set lighting strike threshold value; when the pre-set lightning strike threshold value is exceeded, formatting at least a lightning strike warning and time until strike warning for said defined area of concern to at least one user; said device transmitting said lightning strike warning and said time until strike warning to the at least one user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for predicting lightning, comprising:
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receiving a user defined area of concern for lightning strike activity; collecting vertical temperature data for said defined area of concern from one or more weather temperature models; calculating the lightning formation critical lower bound height and critical upper bound height; calculating a critical updraft temperature height by utilizing pre-determined instability parameters to determine the critical updraft temperature height within a storm cloud and setting the calculated critical updraft temperature height as the critical upper bound height; receiving at said device radar reflectivity data for said defined area of concern; parsing radar reflectivity from individual radar reflectivity scan data; associating parsed radar reflectivity with said lower bound height and said upper bound height; comparing the parsed radar reflectivity associated with said lower bound height and said upper bound height against a pre-set lighting strike threshold value; formatting at least a lightning strike warning and time until strike warning if the lightning strike threshold value is exceeded for said defined area of concern to at least one user; transmitting said lightning strike warning and said time until strike warning to the at least one user. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification