Strong Overnight Storms Hit Conakry, Total Lightning Network Supports Forecasts

23 September 2013, 12:00 UTC: Very intense late night thunderstorms developed along a sea breeze front near Conakry just after midnight today. The Guinea Total Lightning Network began tracking these storms before 1 a.m. and began tracking the intensity and motion of them just ESE of the city. Meteorologists were able to quickly determine that the storms were tracking toward the city and were increasing in intensity rapidly through their analysis of lightning rates and lightning cell tracks.

Below is a video playback of the entire night’s events:

First replay – lightning strikes (in-cloud and cloud-to-ground)

Second replay – storm cell identification and tracking

Third replay – Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts (DTAs)

Meteorologists were also able to reference the hourly updating ENcast to verify forecasts for these same storms. Lightning data feeding into the forecast algorithms were showing nearly 100% chance for storms with intense rainfall likely over the next 2-3 hours. Images below show the forecasts leading up to the event. Ultimately, the storms rolled through the city between 2:30 and 4:00 a.m.