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Citation Station: Alaska - getting struck by lightning

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    • CommentAuthordanielle
    • CommentTimeNov 12th 2006 edited
     

    I recently lived in Alaska and there were hardly any thunder and lightning storms where I lived (Eagle River/Anchorage area). I only saw lightning once during the two years that I lived there. How could this possibly be true?

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      CommentAuthorcadet
    • CommentTimeNov 12th 2006
     

    Just because the area where you lived, Eagle River, rarely saw lightning doesnt mean that the whole state rarely sees lightning. That area is a notoriously calm area for thunder storms (more on that later) but besides that fact, you cannot make an assumption of correlation based on one area. Thats like saying that crime rate rises as the population of prison inmates rises, therefore the high crime rate is because of too many prisoners. That correlation is just as backward as the correlation you are trying to make with Eagle River. We know that as crime rates rise the number of prisoners is bound to rise due to the fact that the criminal pool is larger and therefore police have a greater chance of finding a criminal and putting him in jail.

    Now, about Eagle River/Anchorage. The reason this area of Alaska sees so few thunderstorms is due primarily to the low altituede (144 ft ASL) and the close proximity to the very cold Pacific current known as the "Arctic Current." This Arctic Current creates a strong coastal downwelling force all around Anchorage. Thunderstorms are almost always associated with strong upwelling currents like the Gulf Stream Current. The relatively low altitude of Anchorage means that clouds that would normally be "pushed up" into thunderstorms flow unhindered over the city. Only once the storms make it farther inland do they produce copious amounts of lightning. The Chugach, Wrangell, and Nutzotin mountain ranges all see this phenomenon quite often, and as such attract massive amounts of lightning to their slopes.

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      CommentAuthorcadet
    • CommentTimeNov 12th 2006 edited
     

    I think this thread is in the wrong section. It should probably be in the citation station.

  4.  
    Posted By: cadet

    I think this thread is in the wrong section. It should probably be in the citation station.

    moved

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      CommentAuthorUdoboy
    • CommentTimeNov 13th 2006
     

    The Aleutian Islands get a lot of lightning activity, from my understanding.

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    Also, don't forget how large Alaska is.

    Just because there isn't much lightning activity in one part, doesn't mean that is what the rest of the state is like.

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    Is this fact referring to the total no. of people struck by lightning or per capita? Never having been there I wouldn't know, but I would think Alaska has a much smaller population and population density than most other US states.

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      CommentAuthorcadet
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2006
     

    While this may be true, the number of strikes per square mile is more than quadruple that of any other state. So, less population density x massive lightning density = a lot of crispy people.

    • CommentAuthorjaxxx124
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006
     

    I lived in Tok, Alaska for 18 years and we had numerous storms with lighening every summer causing many many fires

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      CommentAuthorTaed
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006
     

    Yeah, people go up like kindling and can easily catch other things alight.

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      CommentAuthorcadet
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     

    Along with what Taed said, nearly 85% of people who receive the "stop drop and roll" training as a child, panic when caught on fire and run around. This alone is the cause of many external fires that would otherwise be avoided if the person stayed in one spot.

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