Study of thunderstorm activity in Volyn Region and in Ukraine using the data of Blitzortung online resource
Abstract
The article contains the results of statistical and graphical analysis of thunderstorm activity in Ukraine and within Volyn Region, in particular, following the study of the dynamic maps archive available at the online resource Blitzortung.org (lightnings and thunderstorms in real time). It describes the principles and results of activities of Blitzortung.org, a community of lightning direction sensors owners and users, and presents the developed algorithm of the methodology of reading dynamic maps available at this resource.
Regional analysis of the archival maps on the website Blitzortung.org for 2008-2019 for the territory of Volyn Region made it possible to establish the following changes of the thunderstorm activity dynamics: the total number of thunderstorm days more than doubled (from 30 to 68.3 days on average); the number of thunderstorms increased in April (it was a rare phenomenon earlier); the number of thunderstorms increased significantly in May, for some years the number of thunderstorm days in May reached certain summer months (June and July); most thunderstorms are of frontal origin, storm fronts come from the west, north and southwest. The number of frontal thunderstorms tends to increase, therefore indicating increased atmospheric instability and the number of natural meteorological phenomena associated with such instability; the average monthly number of thunderstorm days in Volyn Region also increased for all months of the year with no exception.
The analysis of storm activity within the whole territory of Ukraine during the period of 2018-2019 indicated the presence of clear regional features and differences. The increase in thunderstorm activity is observed in the western (50-100%) and southern (15-50%) regions of the country, and partly in the north. The number of thunderstorm days in the eastern part of Ukraine is close to the climatic normal. At the same time, the analysis needs to be clarified and detailed throughout the whole network of meteorological stations of Ukraine whose data can be compared with the results of the study of archival maps available at Blitzortung.org.
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