Relationship between cloud-to-ground lightning and precipitation ice mass: A radar study over Houston

Using seven summer‐seasons (1997–2003) of NEXRAD data (over 46,000 volumes), coincident climatologies of cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning flash densities and radar‐derived, column integrated precipitation ice mass (IM) were developed, extending global studies of IM and lightning to more regional and cell scales around Houston, TX. Results indicate that local maximums in CG lightning were indeed accompanied by peaks in IM. Extending previous global findings to cell‐scales, we establish a link between a storm's ability to generate enhanced concentrations of mixed‐phase IM, and its ability to generate lightning. Relative to the documented CG lightning “anomaly” over Houston, these results imply that unique aspects of the Houston urban area must first generate an anomaly in convective intensity and precipitation ice, thereby generating an anomaly in lightning; causal hypotheses must be capable of explaining either increased frequency and/or intensity of convection, and then relating these to the enhancement of IM and lightning production.