The researchers of the University of Reading discovered the influence of streams of high-energy particles accelerated by the solar wind observing a significant increase in lightning rates across Europe for up to 40 days after the arrival of high-speed solar winds into the Earth’s atmosphere. They believe that the electrical properties of the air are altered as the incoming charged particles from the solar wind collide with the atmosphere.“ Cosmic rays, tiny particles from across the Universe accelerated to close to the speed of light by exploding stars, have been thought to play a part in thundery weather down on Earth, but our work provides new evidence that similar, if lower energy, particles created by our own Sun also affect lightning,” said Dr. Chris Scott. The immediate importance of the study is the fact that now weather forecasters may be able to predict the severity of lightning strikes several weeks in advance, based on tracking the solar winds streams by spacecraft.
