PGLM in AWIPS II

Today we have a couple forecasters operating over the Melbourne CWA watching the PGLM product.  This has been our first chance to grab a good screenshot of what the PGLM looks like in AWIPS II this year since there has not been a lot of activity over the LMAs during this Spring Experiment.  In the image above you can see a 4-panel display of the PGLM products that we provide within AWIPS II.  The top left is the instantaneous 1-minute flash rates derived from the LMA.  In the top right, we have a 60-minute maximum flash rate product, which takes all of the instantaneous flash rates over the past 60 minutes and only plots the maximum.  The bottom left is the 60-minute accumulated flash rate product, which takes the instantaneous flash rates over the past 60 minutes and sums them up.  The later two products are an attempt to provide forecasters with a crude 2-D track of the flash rates so that they can have some information on the history of the lightning activity.  A major change from previous years' display of the PGLM is the color table.  Forecasters did not like the old table which was did a poor job in differentiating small changes in flash rate.