Upward-moving lightning from TV towers, skyscrapers and other tall structures
Tall television broadcast towers and mega skyscrapers are lightning magnets - no other objects on earth are as frequently and predictably struck. Many of these structures experience over one hundred direct hits each year. This article will examine the unique type of lightning that is common with tall structures as well as how this phenomenon correlates with some common myths about lightning.
In This Article:
- Upward-moving or 'Ground-to-Cloud' lightning
- The stratiform precip region
- Lightning attraction myths
- 'Degree of influence' from metal objects
- Cloud-to-ground lightning to tall structures
- Lightning strikes twice
- Lightning leader phenomena
- Photographs
- Video Clips
- Links
HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS: High-res photos of upward lightning striking towers, including extreme close-ups of lightning, can be found at the Storm Highway Gallery.
Upward-moving or 'Ground-to-Cloud' lightning
While most lightning strikes to earth are the cloud-to-ground variety, the vast majority of lightning discharges to tall structures are of the distinctly different 'ground-to-cloud' or 'upward-moving' type (those terms are used interchangeably). Unlike a cloud-to-ground stroke's downward-moving (and downward-branched) stepped leader, a ground-to-cloud lightning discharge initiates as an upward-propagating, upward-branching leader from the tip of the structure skyward into the cloud. While negatively-charged upward lightning can and does occur, the vast majority of upward lightning is positive.
To illustrate the difference between cloud-to-ground and ground-to-cloud strokes, we'll examine frame-by-frame part of two video clips as well as simulated animations of both types of lightning strikes.
For Comparison: Cloud-to-ground lightning
Before we go into detail about upward lightning, let's take a look at the typical cloud-to-ground discharge. This first sequence of images are successive still frames from a typical cloud-to-ground lightning stroke, showing the downward-branching progression of the stepped leader:
Fig. 1: From high-speed video of a cloud-to-ground strike near Trenton, Illinois: The stepped leader descends, followed by the bright return stroke in the last 3 frames.
The following animation depicts the descent of the stepped leader and subsequent return strokes with a cloud-to-ground lightning stroke:
Fig. 2: Animation depicting stepped leader, upward leaders, first return stroke, and secondary return strokes.
Ground-to-cloud lightning
Now that we've looked at cloud-to-ground lightning, let's look at ground-to-cloud lightning. The next two sequences show the upward-propagating nature of a ground-to-cloud lightning discharge to a television tower:
Fig. 3a: Frames from video of a "slow" positive upward-moving discharge from a television tower near St. Albans, West Virginia.
Fig. 3b: Frames from video of a "fast" positive upward-moving discharge from the same tower during a different storm.
Ground-to-cloud lightning: two variations
Fig. 4a: Examples of slow positive and fast positive upward-moving lightning.
Ground-to-cloud discharges, the vast majority of which are positively charged, have been observed in two distinct forms. High-speed cameras have revealed that this is due to the two different variants of positively-charged lightning leaders: fast and slow. The "slow" variant is less common but much more visually spectacular, and consists of a tree-like branch network literally 'sprouting' skyward off of the tip of the structure. As a 'slow' discharge continues, the number of branches diminishes until only one or two main channels remain to carry secondary return strokes. The second consists of a "fast" positive leader. Fast positive leaders are the more common variant, and consist of a single, branchless leader rocketing upward from the structure tip. Although fast ground-to-cloud strokes show no low-level branching, they commonly do eventually exhibit a upward branching (transition to slow) at some point near or above the cloud base. It is currently not known why some upward lightning leaders are fast and others slow, and this question is a subject of ongoing research.
The following animation depicts the two types of upward-propagating 'ground-to-cloud' discharges, Slow and Fast, to a television tower.
Fig. 4b: Animation depicting two forms of upward-moving or 'ground-to-cloud' discharges to a television tower. slow (left) fast (right).
Ground-to-cloud lightning is triggered by a structure
Upward lightning happens due to intense electric fields concentrated at the tip of a structure, usually during an overhead in-cloud lightning discharge. This results in the unique characteristic of upward lightning that it would not occur in the absence of the structure initiating the discharge. In the absence of a tower or skyscraper, the overhead lightning flash in the clouds would be all that occurs. It is only by the tall structure's presence that the ground-to-cloud component of the discharge happens at all. So, in a sense, all upward lightning occuring to a structure is partly a man-made phenomenon, one that wouldn't exist without the structure being there.
Ground-to-cloud lightning: natural and artificial triggers
A purely natural upward-moving ground-to-cloud lightning stroke is actually a rarity. It favors a unique terrain feature characterized by an isolated, small peak at very high elevations relative to its immediate surroundings. One location in the United States where ground-to-cloud lightning is known to occur naturally is at Pilot Peak, near Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Pilot Peak is a tall, sharp-pointed, pyramid-shaped peak rising high above its surroundings, and at least one photograph has been obtained of a ground-to-cloud strike to its summit. Natural upward lightning has also been observed and photographed triggering from tall formations of Castle Rock, Utah and the Matterhorn in Switzerland. See the links section below to view these images.
While ground-to-cloud lightning is indeed a natural phenomenon, it is man-made structures that have clearly brought this type of discharge out of its 'natural habitat'. Today, thanks to urban development, ground-to-cloud lightning strikes are very common occurances and can be observed anywhere a thunderstorm encounters a tall structure. Broadcast towers and buildings that rise to heights above 1,000 feet above ground (AGL) are especially prolific hotspots for upward-moving lightning, with multiple direct strikes common even during a single storm.
Some well-known skyscrapers that are frequently targets of direct ground-to-cloud lightning strikes include Chicago's Sears Tower and John Hancock Center (see photos below), Toronto's CN Tower, New York's Empire State Building and the former World Trade Center towers (see links section below). Numerous photographs exist of these buildings taking direct hits from the distinctive upward-moving lightning. Ground-to-cloud lightning can usually be observed in any major metropolitan area, where very tall television broadcast towers are commonplace.
Fig. 5: Tall skyscrapers are frequent targets of upward-moving lightning. ABOVE: Chicago's Sears (Willis) Tower, Trump Tower and John Hancock Center take direct strikes at the same time. BELOW: This short clip from a high-speed camera shot at 1,502 frames per second shows the start of a triple simultaneous strike to the Sears, Hancock and Trump:
1,502 FPS video of upward lightning (click to watch the fill video)
In general, the taller the structure, the more lightning strikes it will experience. That is, a 2,000-foot TV tower will initiate more strikes than a 1,000-foot one.
Frequency of strikes to skyscrapers and towers
If you were to perform an internet search to find the number of times lightning strikes a specific structure in an average year (the Sears Tower or Empire State Building, for example), you'll find figures ranging from the hundreds to the thousands. Which numbers are right? Based on my observations and collected images of actual tower/skyscraper strikes, a structure in the midwestern and northeastern USA with a height over 1,000 feet AGL (above ground level) receives an average of between 2 and 8 strikes during each thunderstorm that passes directly over the structure (a few thunderstorms produce no strikes to the structures, while in rare instances some can produce a dozen or more).
Given the fact that places like downtown Chicago, downtown New York City, and the WVAH tower site at West Virginia receive roughly 10-15 thunderstorm events that pass directly over the structures annually, we can conclude that these structures receive an estimated 50 to 110 strikes per year, with anomalous years likely producing no more than 150.
Tall structures in locations such as central Florida (regions that see many more thunderstorm days per year than the midwest or northeast) are more likely to have storms pass directly overhead. Therefore it is plausible that any tall broadcast tower (over 1,200 feet AGL) in the Florida 'lightning alley' would see well over 150-200 strikes per year.
Multiple simultaneous strikes
If multiple tall objects are present, upward lightning frequently will initiate off of more than one at the same time. For example, in Chicago, it is common for upward flashes to strike the Sears Tower, the John Hancock building and the Trump tower simultaneously. Clusters of multiple TV towers are frequently hit at the same time. Photographs exist of more than 7 of Oklahoma City's towers getting hit simultaneously during a single discharge.
The following photograph shows upward lightning strikes to seven (7) Chicago buildings simultaneously during a storm on July 29, 2023:
Septuple strike: Sears, Hancock, Trump, St. Regis, Aon, crane, & Lake Point Tower
The stratiform precip region
Strikes to towers and skyscrapers are most prolific in the electrified stratiform precipitation region of a thunderstorm complex (MCS) or convective squall line (see Fig. 5a below). The stratiform precip region usually extends from 20 to 200 miles or more behind a line of thunderstorms, and is characterized by light to moderate rain with intermittent lightning activity. While upward lightning can and does occur in the primary heavy cores of a thunderstorm, it is within the stratiform regions where they are most numerous and dramatic. Due to the lighter precipitation rates, the cloud bases and attendant visibilities are much higher in a stratiform region, allowing for a much greater length of lightning channels to be visible.
Fig. 5a: Radar image showing a convective squall line and attendant trailing stratiform precipitation region.
Upward lightning flashes from towers and skyscrapers in the stratiform precip regions are usually triggered by an intracloud discharge above the structure, and typically begin several minutes after the main core of heavy rain and lightning in the squall line passes. Many cases there will be a lull in lightning activity after the passage of the main squall line, leading an observer to prematurely conclude that the storm is over. After this lull, which can be up to 10 to 15 minutes long, upward discharges will suddenly begin to occur and continue every 2 to 5 minutes until the electrified portion of the stratiform region has passed. In most cases, two to five upward discharges are typical with the common storm complex, but larger complexes with extensive stratiform regions can produce more than a dozen strokes, since the tower remains under the electrified region for a longer period of time.
Very large thunderstorm complexes (usually associated with severe weather outbreaks) with extensive and highly electrified stratiform regions may produce upward lightning off of towers and skyscrapers even after the precipitation stops falling. As a general rule, if an electrified cloud mass (where lightning is still present) attached to a storm complex is over a tall structure, the potential exists for upward-moving lightning strokes. This can continue for over an hour after the passage of a squall line. The longer that an electrified stratiform region remains over a tall structure, the more upward discharges will occur.
Lightning attraction myths
Towers and tall buildings are a rare exception to the rule that lightning generally cannot be drawn or attracted. Let's discuss that rule of non-attraction briefly.
storm chasers and scientists can tell you, from their years of experience and observation, that lightning routinely defies its most prevalent myths. In reality, lightning doesn't always strike the tallest object, doesn't always strike the most conductive (metal) object and it is not attracted, influenced or drawn to small objects on the ground, metallic or non-metallic. Photos like this one give compelling evidence that lightning strikes wherever it pleases:
(Click for full-size photo) Fig. 6: Lightning strikes the ground very close to a metal light pole near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A person standing in the grassy field where the above bolt hit the ground would see quickly that the tall metal light pole close by didn't help draw the lightning away. The bare dirt and grass certainly wasn't the tallest and most conductive path in the area for the lightning to follow. The 'degree of influence' of the light pole was not enough to affect this strike to ground, even though it was less than fifty feet away.
Next, let's talk about that 'degree of influence' concept.
'Degree of influence' from metal objects
It has been found that the 'degree of influence' of metal objects on lightning is proportional to the size of the object. Photographic and laboratory evidence suggests that a conductive object will only attract a lightning channel at a distance at or less than the object's longest vertically-oriented dimension. That is, a three-foot high umbrella will not attract or influence a lightning channel that strikes more than three feet away ( see Figure 6 illustration below). A metal earring will only attract a lightning bolt that is less than one-half of an inch away! A house or building may attract a lightning bolt that comes down at or less than a distance equal to its height. In other words, for most objects on the ground, a lightning strike must already be occuring at extremely close range for any attraction effects to come into play. This makes any relevance to safety a moot point, as lightning striking within a few feet of a person standing outside is usually just as lethal as a direct hit.
Fig. 7: Small metal objects will not attract a lightning channel that is further away than a distance equal to the object's length. Lightning would have to strike within three feet of this umbrella before it could be 'attracted' to the umbrella.
A tall television broadcast tower or a mega-skyscraper introduces a huge leap in size, and the resultant 'degree of influence', from an umbrella, earring or house. Not only is their immense size incomparable to small metal objects on the ground, these structures significantly reduce the insulating air gap between a thunderstorm cloud and ground - something a house, golf club or umbrella fails to do. Using the degree of influence concept, we can conclude that a broadcast tower that is 1,500 feet high is likely to draw a lightning strike that is occuring within a 1,500-foot radius of its antenna tip. Photographic evidence of lightning strokes to these structures have reinforced this principle.
Cloud-to-ground lightning: attraction to tall structures
While upward-moving ground-to-cloud strikes account for most discharges to tall structures, these structures do on occasion experience a direct strike from a cloud-to-ground lightning flash. In these cases, a stepped leader for a forming cloud-to-ground discharge must already be descending in the general vicinity of the tower before it can be drawn to the tip of the structure. Using the degree of influence concept, if a stepped leader happens to come down near a tower closer than a distance equal to the structure's height, it may make a last-second horizontal jump over to the tower. The first photo below illustrates a clear instance of this occuring to a tower in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The lightning's downward branching is the main feature identifying it as a cloud-to-ground strike as opposed to a ground-to-cloud discharge.
Fig. 8: A cloud-to-ground (CG) strike is drawn to a tall tower in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Fig. 8b: Another example of a cloud-to-ground (CG) strike occuring to a tower in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Again, the downward branching is the primary identifying feature of a CG (cloud-to-ground) as opposed to an upward-moving flash.
Fig. 8c: A bizarre cloud-to-ground stroke to the KMOV tower in St. Louis in June 2011, in which return strokes connected to the structure in three different places. Some strokes hit the tip of the antenna, while two others connected to guy wires at a considerable distance down the side (click the photo to enlarge).
Tall structures: Lightning strikes twice
The old saying that lightning never strikes the same place twice is another myth that any veteran storm chaser or researcher has seen nature defy. Lightning can strike any location more than once. In fact, given enough time, it is actually inevitable. It may take as little as less than ten minutes within a single thunderstorm, or longer than a million years - but lightning will eventually strike the same spot again and again. A strike to any location does nothing to change the electrical activity in the storm above, which will produce another strike as soon as it 'recharges'. The previously hit location is then just as fair game for the next discharge as any other spot.
Here to help me bust this myth are Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, showing my footage of the Sears Tower getting struck by lightning twice during a July 2006 storm in Chicago. You can view the video clip at the Discovery Channel web site. |
VIDEO: Lightning strikes the same place 50 times!
A compilation of fifty direct lightning strikes to the WVAH tower near St. Albans, WV.
Fig. 9: 11 strikes in one storm: The images below show ten out of a total of eleven strikes I captured in a 20 minute time frame to the WKYT / WTVQ towers in Lexington, Kentucky during a storm on February 5, 2008 (click to watch the video clip):
Tall television towers and large skyscrapers blow the 'lightning never strikes twice' myth out of the water. A television tower's antenna often experiences a direct strike as frequently as every thirty seconds during more intense thunderstorms, with a total of three to over a dozen strikes per every half-hour interval that a storm is overhead. A observer wishing to witness a predictable close lightning strike has to go no further than his local television tower during a storm. Towers or skyscrapers that reach or exceed the 1,000 foot mark are virtually guaranteed to take at least one direct hit during every thunderstorm that passes overhead.
Lightning leaders
Fig. 11: Incomplete upward lightning leaders eminating from the tops of five broadcast towers in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in response to a simultaneous large 'anvil crawler' discharge directly overhead.
CASE STUDY LINK: Oklahoma City lightning leader event with photo and video documentation.
Most upward lightning events to tall structures occur in conjunction with, and as a result of, an in-cloud lightning discharge above the structure tip. Video evidence shows that intracloud lightning discharges are the precursors of, and the triggers for, most leader initiation from the tops of towers and skyscrapers. The in-cloud discharge creates a very high, concentrated electric field at the tower tip that promotes leader formation. Video has also shown that in-cloud lightning flashes initiate leaders off of tall structures that can vary in length greatly from just a couple of feet, to all the way into the cloud. The shorter leaders simply terminate in mid-air, and will produce audible thunder that will end abruptly due to the channel being very short in length (watch video clip in linked case study above). The following images are video captures of short lightning leaders. Note that the leader length can vary from less than a few feet to over 200 feet before the electrical breakdown ceases and the channel ends:
Fig. 10: Short upward-propagating leaders off of a television tower that did not travel to cloud base.
In the second image above, the leader channel produced audible thunder that lasted for less than 1/5 of a second, indicating the channel was very short in length. The first image shows a very small leader which did not produce any thunder audible to the observer.
Most upward lightning events, however, do result in a leader that propagates to cloud base and beyond. Some of these leaders branch and extend great distances either horizontally, vertically or both, and many such leaders will contain numerous return strokes as a result of the recoil leader/dart leader process on the growing positive leader branches. Video cameras can sometimes capture one or two frames of the initial leader propagation:
Fig. 11: Upward-propagating leaders ('streamers') off of a television tower that extended to cloud base and beyond.
Lightning and tall structures: Photographs
HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS: High-res photos of upward lightning striking towers, including extreme close-ups of lightning, can be found at the Storm Highway Gallery.
The following thumbnail images can be clicked to access larger versions of each photo.
Chicago skyscraper lightning strikes
Lightning strikes five times - two and three towers at once
In many cities, multiple broadcast tower sites are clustered together. In these cases, upward lightning discharges often occur simultaneously to more than one tower at a time.
Such is the case with the cluster of three towers near Clayton, North Carolina, which carry the antennas for several Raleigh-Durham area television and radio stations, including those for WRAL, WRAZ, WRDC, WQDR, WNCN and WLFL. All three towers rise to a height of just under 2,000 feet, making them prime targets for lightning strikes during any storm that happens to pass overhead. On April 10, 2004 Matt and I filmed a relatively small and weak thunderstorm passing over the site, which produced five direct hits to the towers during a ten-minute timespan. Three of the discharges produced strikes to either two or all three towers simultaneously. The center tower, home to WRAL's antenna, took a direct hit during each of the five discharge events. We employed two cameras for the shoot, with one zoomed in close on the antennas and another at wide-angle.
The WVAH tower: Lightning's favorite West Virgina target
The ridgetop at Coal Mountain, just west of St. Albans, West Virginia near the Kanawha/Putnam county line, is home to the transmitter sites of several Charleston and Huntington area television and radio stations. For many years, Coal Mountain was home to two of the state's tallest structures, the towers housing antennas for WCHS, WVAH and WFYV. After a February 2003 ice storm brought down the massive WVAH structure, a new tower was built to replace both it and the smaller WCHS structure nearby. After the WCHS tower was removed, the new 1,500-foot structure remains the only tall tower on Coal Mountain. The old WVAH and WCHS towers were guaranteed lightning targets during every thunderstorm that passed overhead, and the new tower continues the tradition. The new tower is routinely hit between 3 and 10 times during most storms that pass overhead.
I have been continuing an ongoing project to document upward lightning events to the WVAH/WCHS tower site on video and stills since 2005. I am not able to cover every storm that impacts the tower, however I have been able to document over 50 ground-to-cloud discharges at this site. During a few of these shoots, I have used zoom lenses at close range to get detailed images of lightning channels on the scale of inches.
(Video from this project is avialable at stormhighway.com/footage.)
WVAH tower lightning photo section
There are too many images to list on this page, so photos here are broken down by event. Click on each event to access the chase report for that day, which will include a full list of available images:
August 4, 2009 WVAH tower lightning
Eight upward strikes - Extreme up-close still camera views at 1300mm |
|
June 3, 2008 WVAH tower lightning
Nine upward strikes - Up-close video and still camera views |
|
July 4, 2006 WVAH tower lightning
Four upward strikes - 3 video camera views, two up-close zooms |
|
April 10, 2009 WVAH tower lightning
Ten upward strikes - 1-mile distance video and still camera views |
|
April 17, 2006 WVAH tower lightning
Three upward strikes - 2 up close video camera views |
|
June 14, 2005 WVAH tower lightning
Three upward strikes - 2 video camera views - 1 close, 1 wide |
|
July 27, 2005 WVAH tower lightning
One upward strike, one cloud-to-ground strike - 2 video camera views - 1 close, 1 wide |
|
May 8, 2009 WVAH tower lightning
Five upward strikes - Up-close video and still camera views |
|
April 22, 2005 WVAH tower lightning
One upward strike - 1 up-close video camera view |
|
SIDEBAR 1: Report and analysis of June 14, 2005 upward lightning video
SIDEBAR 2: Report and analysis of July 4, 2006 upward lightning video
Oklahoma City: Tower lightning playground
Lightning and tall structures: Video Clips
Ground-to-Cloud Lightning Links
Tom Warner has been capturing both upward and downward lightning events with high-speed video cameras, with stunning results.
Carter E. Gowl shot a photo of a purely natural ground-to-cloud lightning strike (that is, absent from any man-made structure) to Pilot Peak in Wyoming.
Bill Rau captured natural upward lightning to Castle Rock formations in Utah.
Charley Rousset photographed a natural upward lightning flash to the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
Mike Hollingshead has some great stills of upward-moving lightning striking towers in Omaha, Nebraska.
Mike Theiss has some impressive video of upward-moving lightning striking towers in Wichita Falls, Texas.
About the Author: Dan Robinson has been a storm chaser, photographer and cameraman for 30 years. His career has involved traveling around the country covering the most extreme weather on the planet including tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, floods and winter storms. Dan has been extensively published in newspapers, magazines, web articles and more, and has both supplied footage for and appeared in numerous television productions and newscasts. He has also been involved in the research community, providing material for published scientific journal papers on tornadoes and lightning. Dan also holds an active Remote Pilot Certificate from the FAA (Part 107) for commercial drone operation. |
GO: Home | Storm Expeditions | Photography | Extreme Weather Library | Stock Footage | Blog
Featured Weather Library Article:
|