Tag: Polar Weather

A thunderstorm that roared to within just 44 kilometers of the North Pole in August 2019 is forcing scientists to rethink what’s possible in Earth’s coldest regions. Traditionally too cold and dry for thunderstorms, the Arctic may now be facing a stormy new reality as the climate warms. Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China have uncovered fresh insights into the rare Arctic thunderstorm publishing their findings in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. The study links the storm formation directly to a warming event that brought warm moist air deep into the polar region triggering a chain of atmospheric instability rarely seen so far north. Between August 12–13, 2019, the Worldwide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) recorded 342 lightning events, with 122 conc...