Winter lightning along the East Coast

More than 150,000 cloud‐to‐earth lightning flashes were recorded along the East Coast during the period 15 January–15 March 1986 in the region bounded by 25°N–40°N and 90°W–70°W. The majority of the flashes for the two month period occurred over the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of the Gulf Stream where a peak flash density of 0.7 flashes/km2 was observed approximately 270 km from the Carolina Coast. This relatively sharp peak in the spatial distribution of lightning flashes to earth over the Gulf Stream occurs with a width at half‐maximum of approximately 130 km. In the February 1986 data, a close correlation is observed of the maximum lightning flash density contours with the maximum sea surface temperature contours.