2 ms·

North Carolina is on the eastern ass-end of a common circulation pattern of cold fronts. They get a lot of the big squall-line fronts with heavy/torrential down

by kposehn 13y ago

North Carolina is on the eastern ass-end of a common circulation pattern of cold fronts. They get a lot of the big squall-line fronts with heavy/torrential downpours in storm cells, while the mountains act as an extra lifting mechanism. With that combo, you get much more lightning overall. This may account for the high death rate. The Pacific Northwest has much fewer thunderstorms where population is concentrated. Go east of the cascades and there are far more storms, but far fewer people.

chrisbennet 13y ago
Or they could just have a lot of sinners... ;-)
brightsize 13y ago
Not really. I've lived in Spokane for the past ten years and we almost never get thunderstorms here. I can remember one big one a couple of years ago where I thought we were going to get a tornado (something else that never happens here), but no such luck. That was the only storm excitement in forever. In general it's a fairly hot/dry place in the summer, and I don't think we get that magic combo of heat and humidity needed to cook up a good storm.
- kposehn 13y ago
  Wow, really? I lived there for 3 years and we got a ton of storms. I'm quite surprised - eastern washington used to get them relatively often during the summer. Well, eastern Oregon on the eastern slope of the cascades gets quite a few as well, and I got there often enough to experience them :)
  - brightsize 13y ago
    Really. It hardly rains at all in the summer here. Just sun and heat, sun and heat. Everyone has to water their lawns or they all die. I grew up in New England where we had proper storms in the summer, and I WISH we had them here, if only to get a little wx excitement once in a while. Stats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokane,_Washington#Climate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokane,_Washington#Climate
    - kposehn 13y ago
      Huh. Color me confused. I lived there 1998-2001 while attending Gonzaga. We had a ton of storms in the spring and summer those years. Must have been a string of odd years. I live in San Diego now - I haven't seen a good blitz of a storm in sooooo long ~_~

by kposehn 13y ago

chrisbennet 13y ago

Or they could just have a lot of sinners... ;-)

brightsize 13y ago

Not really. I've lived in Spokane for the past ten years and we almost never get thunderstorms here. I can remember one big one a couple of years ago where I thought we were going to get a tornado (something else that never happens here), but no such luck. That was the only storm excitement in forever. In general it's a fairly hot/dry place in the summer, and I don't think we get that magic combo of heat and humidity needed to cook up a good storm.

kposehn 13y ago
Wow, really? I lived there for 3 years and we got a ton of storms. I'm quite surprised - eastern washington used to get them relatively often during the summer. Well, eastern Oregon on the eastern slope of the cascades gets quite a few as well, and I got there often enough to experience them :)
- brightsize 13y ago
  Really. It hardly rains at all in the summer here. Just sun and heat, sun and heat. Everyone has to water their lawns or they all die. I grew up in New England where we had proper storms in the summer, and I WISH we had them here, if only to get a little wx excitement once in a while. Stats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokane,_Washington#Climate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokane,_Washington#Climate
  - kposehn 13y ago
    Huh. Color me confused. I lived there 1998-2001 while attending Gonzaga. We had a ton of storms in the spring and summer those years. Must have been a string of odd years. I live in San Diego now - I haven't seen a good blitz of a storm in sooooo long ~_~