For lightning to occur, atmospheric instability is necessary. This means that cold, dry air must be situated over warm, humid air. Normally, this warm, humid air cannot be found in the areas near the North Pole. Therefore, it is really difficult for lightning strikes to occur in this area.
However, on August 10, 2019, scientists detected dozens of lightning strikes near the North Pole. Just 300 nautical miles away. This event is so unusual that the office of the National Weather Service of the United States in Fairbanks, Alaska, stated that this was one of the northernmost lightning strikes that Alaskan forecasters could remember.
Although it is very likely that this unusual phenomenon was caused by climate change, it could also be due to other reasons. For example, the warming of the area due to smoke from the intense wildfires that took place this summer in Siberia.
According to experts, polar lightning will become more common as the planet's temperature increases and the ice melt in the Arctic regions grows.
