Climate Change May Cause More Lightning Strikes, Ignite More Wildfires

A new study suggests that people can expect more lightning strikes and wildfires in the United States because of climate change, Examiner reported.

David Romps, a climate scientist from the University of California, published a study claiming that lightning strikes are likely to increase by nearly 50 percent in the United States by the end of the century due to climate change, said Examiner.

"There are about 30 million strikes per year in the contiguous U.S. now," Romps said in the Examiner report. "In 2100, we would expect about 45 million per year."

Climate change and the greenhouse effect is considered to be a major factor in the increase of lightning strikes, according to Examiner. As the planet gets warmer, the air becomes more saturated with water vapor, and more water vapor leads to more thunderstorms, creating more lightning strikes.

The increase in the number of lightning strikes also has a mixed effect on greenhouse gases, as more lightning could lessen the amount of methane present in the atmosphere but increase the ozone gases.

Lightning strikes are not generally dangerous, but half of the wildfires in the United States are a result of their occurrence, according to the Wall Street OTC.

Thanks to modern technology, strikes have lessened more in the past years, now killing approximately 33 people each year compared to hundreds back in the 70s, according to Wall Street OTC. More strikes, however, would result in an increased frequency of wildfires as well, putting more people in danger and causing more damage.

Jacob Seeley, climate researcher at the University of Berkley, said, "We are pushing our climate system into uncharted territory, and that means we're going to see phenomena that are extreme compared to what humans have experienced thus far during the relatively short amount of time we have been flourishing on this planet," Wall Street OTC quoted.

Romps and his team created a computer model to simulate how much lightning is created based on precipitation and how much activity a thunderstorm could produce, according to National Geographic.

Romps, however, said that they had a problem with the models as their estimates do not take into account other physical factors that could cause lightning to occur, such as how much moisture is present in the air or the potential of a thundercloud to generate upward movement of air, explained the National Geographic report.

Alexander Archibald, who was not part of the study but is an atmospheric chemist at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, maintains that Romps' energy-based approach is a good contribution for predicting the number of lightning strikes, National Geographic stated.

Romps and his team said that their results only apply to the continental U.S., saying that the study was based based on data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Lightning Detection Network, added the National Geographic report. They are, however, making plans to map lightning strikes in other areas, possibly Florida and states near the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.