02-28-2015, 06:45 AM
A Hawaiian Airlines plane got hit by lightning last night about 7 pm near 2 thunderstorms near Honokaa;
http://khon2.com/2015/02/27/flight-delay...lightning/
Usually pilots try to avoid thunderstorms, I'm not sure why this plane would fly so close to them;
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/HAL380
Thankfully, the outcome was only getting hit by lightning, planes are well designed to survive lightning strikes. But the turbulence/down/updrafts makes it risky to get too close.
There are better websites for lightning detection but most of them seem to be non operational at this time. This one's good for a general view;
http://wwlln.net/WWLLN_movies/Movie_of_L...ic_BIG.gif
The cold front was moving NW to SE so most of East Hawaii would be relatively dry from the rain shadow effect of Mauna Loa;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_shadow
We will lose the rain shadow effect starting tomorrow as the direction of the rainstorms will change to NE to SW and a very wet trade wind pattern will develop with high precipitation amounts;
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/pages/WxBrf....nty=Hawaii
http://khon2.com/2015/02/27/flight-delay...lightning/
Usually pilots try to avoid thunderstorms, I'm not sure why this plane would fly so close to them;
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/HAL380
Thankfully, the outcome was only getting hit by lightning, planes are well designed to survive lightning strikes. But the turbulence/down/updrafts makes it risky to get too close.
There are better websites for lightning detection but most of them seem to be non operational at this time. This one's good for a general view;
http://wwlln.net/WWLLN_movies/Movie_of_L...ic_BIG.gif
The cold front was moving NW to SE so most of East Hawaii would be relatively dry from the rain shadow effect of Mauna Loa;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_shadow
We will lose the rain shadow effect starting tomorrow as the direction of the rainstorms will change to NE to SW and a very wet trade wind pattern will develop with high precipitation amounts;
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/pages/WxBrf....nty=Hawaii