Presentation and Analysis of a Lightning Climatology for a Region in Central Europe with Focus on the Mean Normalised Amperage

A lightning climatology covering 16 years based on ground measurements is presented and discussed. Instead of the lightning density, the focus lies on the analysis and interpretation of mean normalised amperage. This enables to identify regions with a particularly high risk of severe thunderstorms. Our results indicate that in autumn the North-Sea and the Po Valley is characterised by few but very strong thunderstorms. During the convective season the number density of thunderstorms increases significantly over land. The Alpine region is by far most affected by thunderstorms, whereby the severity of the thunderstorms is likely on average much higher in the southern (Po Valley) than in the northern foothills. Also some regions along the western and eastern border of Germany are on average much affected by thunderstorms. The patterns of the amperages form some sort of a U-shape, which probably results from the lifting of incoming moist air from the west or east by the orography. The analysis reveals that the mean normalised amperage could be a good candidate for the measure of the severity of thunderstorms and the estimation of risks induced by strong hail events.