Climatological analysis of lightning flashes over Kerala

The occurrence of severe thunderstorms and lightning strikes has affected people all over the world. These lightning strikes have a great energy which can lead to severe affects on humans, crops and animals. Kerala is one of the lightning prone areas in the country, especially during pre-monsoon season. In this paper, we have tried to analyze the lightning flashes for every season using LIS TRMM satellite data (1995-2014). Later, we have calculated rainfall days for all seasons using GPCC precipitation dataset (1995-2014). The lightning flashes are more in pre-monsoon season than other seasons which can be clearly observed. Kottayam has the highest mean lightning flashes out of other districts. In premonsoon, there was a 75% correlation between rainy days and lightning flashes. In recent years, the occurrence of lightning flashes and the deaths related to it have increased significantly. This study helps us to understand the climatological lightning flashes over every district in Kerala for all seasons and the deaths related to it.