Istanbul witnesses 65 lightnings in minute throughout night

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s most populous province Istanbul was hit by downpours caused by a weather phenomenon named “atmospheric instability,” with around 65 lightnings flashing in a minute between late on July 10 and early July 11.

“The higher parts of the Earth’s atmosphere was cold, the lower levels were hot. This caused the atmospheric instability,” Yüksel Yağan, the head of the Weather Forecast Department of the Turkish State Meteorological Service said.

Atmospheric instability is a condition where the Earth’s atmosphere is generally considered to be unstable and as a result the weather is subjected to a high degree of variability through distance and time.

“Türkiye was impacted by a cold weather system occurring on the higher parts of the atmosphere,” Yağan said and added: “This weather system arrived at us from the Balkans.”

The expert highlighted that the atmospheric instability caused more than 100 kilos of rainfall on the metropolis.

Istanbul struggled with summer rainfalls between July 9 and 11. The district of Esenyurt was hit by floods on July 10 caused by heavy precipitation.

When asked if the July rainfalls were unpredicted, prominent meteorologist Orhan Şen simply rejected the idea.

“This is a systematic meteorological precipitation that we knew about days before,” he said and added: “There was hot air on the surface in the Marmara region, warming Istanbul for a week. The cold weather from the Balkans came and caused cumulonimbus clouds, which carry large amounts of rain inside.”

The incident lightning maps showed that the province witnessed around 65 lightnings in a minute throughout the night.

Şen explained the situation with fireworks analogy.

“Think about throwing fireworks inside these clouds. The more rains pour the more lightnings occur,” he stated. “There are small water droplets at the bottom of these clouds and bigger droplets on the top. When these collide inside the cloud, there generates a heavy load of electricity, which we see as lightning.”

When asked if Istanbul will see another precipitation, Sen pointed out July 14.

“The cumulonimbus clouds will move from Istanbul to [the Black Sea provinces of] Düzce and Zonguldak,” he said and added: “There is no precipitation in the Marmara region other than Thursday.”

However, according to Yağan, this is not the only week of rain.

“Unfortunately, we are facing a rainy summer,” he expressed and recommended the citizens to follow warnings from the service.