DHAKA: Lightning has the power to spark wildfires and kill, and scientists said Thursday that climate change may lead to 50 percent more of it by century’s end.

The report in the US journal Science is based on measurements of precipitation and cloud buoyancy, applied to 11 different climate models that estimate how warm the planet may get by 2100, The Straits Times publishes this report on Friday.

‘With warming, thunderstorms become more explosive,’ said climate scientist David Romps of the University of California, Berkeley.

‘Warming causes there to be more water vapour in the atmosphere, and if you have more fuel lying around, when you get ignition, it can go big time.’

BDST: 0233 HRS, NOV 14, 2014