Over one million lightning pulses recorded across Australia's Outback in 24 hours
More than one million lightning pulses were detected within an 800-kilometre radius of Carnegie, a cattle station in Western Australia's arid interior, in the 24 hours to 7 am (AWST), illuminating parts of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia with spectacular thunderstorms, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing Weatherzone.
Several remote areas recorded significant rainfall over the 24-hour period as thunderstorms and lightning swept across the region.
A large low-pressure system over Western Australia's Gascoyne region, together with several atmospheric troughs, extending inland, created favorable conditions for storm development. Moisture from unusually warm Indian Ocean waters, combined with high temperatures on Tuesday afternoon, further increased atmospheric instability.
Several locations recorded significant rainfall, including 40 mm at Mount Magnet Airport, 32.8 mm at Golden Grove, 29.6 mm at Giles and 27.4 mm at Territory Grape Farm. Alice Springs Airport recorded 17.2 mm.
Strong wind gusts also accompanied the storms, reaching 96 km/h at Ironbridge Mine Airport in Western Australia and 87 km/h at Yulara Airport near Uluru.
Widespread thunderstorms are expected to continue across parts of Australia's interior over the next few days, with another round of stormy weather possible early next week. Storms could also reach Perth on Monday.
Weatherzone reported that 493,267 lightning flashes generated 1,328,097 lightning pulses across Western Australia and the Northern Territory during the 24-hour period. Of these, 1,000,380 pulses were recorded within an 800-kilometre radius of Carnegie cattle station in Western Australia.
Earlier, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that more than half of ski resorts across 28 European countries could face a very high risk of snow shortages if global warming reaches 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
