Lightning is an electrical discharge - a'spark' or 'flash' as charged regions in the atmosphere instantly balance themselves through this discharge. It is a beautiful and deadly naturally occurring phenomenon. In June 2020, more than a hundred people died in the state Bihar of India only in three days’ span due to lightning events. In this work, Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) information from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite with a very high spatial resolution of 0.1 X 0.1 degree has been utilized to create the climatology of India for 16 years from 1998 to 2013. Diurnal, monthly, and seasonal variations in the occurrence of lightning flash rate density have also been analyzed. TRMM satellite low-resolution monthly time series (LRMTS) with 2.5-degree resolution datasets have been used for lightning trend analysis.
The diurnal lightning event mainly occurs in the afternoon/evening (1400-1900 Hrs) time duration around 0.001 flashes/km2/hr. The highest lightning occurred in May (0.04 flashes/km2/day) and the least in December (0.005 flashes/km2/day). The distribution of lightning flash counts by season over India landmass is mainly in pre-monsoon (MAM) ranges from 0.248 – 0.491 flashes/km2/day, and monsoon (JJA) ranges from 0.284 – 0.451 flashes/km2/day and decreases afterward. Spatially, the distribution of lightning flashes mainly at North-Eastern region along with Bangladesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Jammu & Kashmir region. The CAPE and K Index have positively correlated with the flash rate density seasonally but CAPE is more significantly correlated. This study also focused on finding of lightning hotspots region of India district wise and Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir got the highest lightning with 121 flashes/km2/yr.