WATCH: How lightning is formed
JOBURG – Lightning is formed by a build-up and discharge of electrical energy between positively and negatively charged areas in the atmosphere and clouds.
Climate change could have an effect on the number of thunderstorms and lightning strikes we experience
WATCH:
Thunderstorms over Johannesburg through the last few weeks have caused damages to roads, buildings, cars and homes. Although this isn’t new to the public, thunderstorms and their devastation can become worse if the climate continues to change. This is according to the University of the Witwatersrand Professor of physical geography Jasper Knight. “We know that the Earth is getting warmer and as part of that could have knock-on effects on the frequency with which we get lightning strikes on the land surface. As the atmosphere heats up and the Earth gets warmer and warmer, that extra heat and energy can cause instability in the atmosphere. This can cause extra-strong thunderstorms and that cause an increased frequency of lightning.”
ALSO READ: Attending to lightning strike victims
According to Knight, a city like Johannesburg is known to have thunderstorms in the summer. On 28 January, a man was struck and killed by a lightning strike in Sophiatown. A woman was also killed by a lightning strike in Melville in October 2020 pushing the public to feel that the area has become a lightning hotspot. Although there aren’t any official statistics on lightning-caused death in South Africa, more people are killed by lightning strikes in rural areas than urban as there are little protection and cover from the elements during these storms. Such storms are particularly common near the equator, where the strongest and most energetic thunderstorms take place. Knight confirmed that the lightning experienced in South Africa is only a third of what is found in the mountainous regions of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Related Article:
