Dry lightning has set Tasmania ablaze, and climate change makes it more likely to happen again
- Written by Nick Earl, Postdoctoral associate, School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne
Every year Tasmania is hit by thousands of lightning strikes, which harmlessly hit wet ground. But a huge swathe of the state is now burning as a result of “dry lightning” strikes.
Dry lightning occurs when a storm forms from high temperatures or along a weather front (as usual) but, unlike normal thunderstorms, the rain evaporates...