I regret to inform you, however, that there is some very alarming news which I have just learned about a predicted rise in lightning.
Scientists are now warning us that unless we manage to get global warming under control, there is likely to be a 50% rise in lightning strikes across the United States during this century!
Thank heavens I invented the lightning rod. At least there will be some protection against this electrical epidemic…that is, if you had the foresight to install a lighting rod at your house, office, condo, or apartment building.
Where did I learn of this disturbing forecast? In the November 14 issue of the esteemed journal “Science,” published by the University of California at Berkeley, it was reported that climate scientist David Romps and his colleagues looked at predictions of precipitation and cloud buoyancy and concluded that the combination of the two will generate more frequent lightning strikes.
Mr. Romps explains that "With warming, thunderstorms become more explosive." Romps is an assistant professor of earth and planetary science and a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "This has to do with water vapor, which is the fuel for explosive deep convection in the atmosphere. Warming causes there to be more water vapor in the atmosphere, and if you have more fuel lying around, when you get ignition, it can go big time."
Furthermore, Professor Romps says that more lightning means more injuries, more wildfires, and more nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere.
If you would like to read more on this subject yourself, you can view the original article on the internet at the Science News webpage.
Of, if you’d care to see a video that graphically illustrates the occurrence of lightning strikes across the United States, you can view it on Youtube at http://youtu.be/VN6iElgldpI
Professor Romp’s work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research and Office of Biological and Environmental Research, and the National Science Foundation… so I would assume that this is a legitimate scientific investigation, not some alarmist, half-true, politically motivated propaganda.
I just thought I’d pass on this information to you, so that you will be better informed about this controversial subject of global warming.
Your humble servant,
B.Franklin