AN ISOLATED WINTER CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING FLASH CAUSING DAMAGE ANDINJURY IN CONNECTICUT

An isolated lightning flash at 1436:52 UTC 11 February 1996 struck and destroyed a house in Burlington, Connecticut, injuring an occupant of the house. A flash detected simultaneously by the National Lightning Detection Network was within 1.1 km of the house. The flash was separa ted from any other flash by several hours and hundreds of kilometers a nd occurred during winter. Positive charge was lowered to ground by th e flash, as has been found in previous studies of winter storms. Its e stimated peak current of +76 kA was stronger than most positive flashe s and nearly all negative cloud-to-ground flashes for the entire year in the same area. The incident is compared with other previously docum ented lightning casualty and damage statistics during wintertime for C onnecticut and other regions of the United States. The importance of t he flash is described in relation to the resulting material damage and personal injury, the handling of insurance claims, the use of flash d ata in forecasting and warning applications, and personal safety.