Well it seems like there might be another reason why your car is more dangerous than you though it was. According to a study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, there seems to be a correlation to vehicle emissions and lightning strikes.They found that from 1998-2008 in south eastern states that lightning strikes increased with pollution as much as 25%. But then one may ask why have heavily populated cities, such as Atlanta, been reach in record drought levels? The study also shows that the higher temperatures in cities tends to override emmissions induced lightning strikes. This means that the "sweet spot" for these storms actually occurs hundreds of miles away and days later once the wind has drifted the pollution to suburban and rural areas.

 

At first I thought this was one of those cases where they used correlation to prove the cause until I thought about volcanoes. There is a natural phenomenon called "dirty thunderstorms" caused by ash from volcanoes. National Geographic did an article on this topic last year and most scientist believe it comes from a buildup of static charge that occurs from small particles colliding with another. Just as with the Hebrew University story the most of the lightning strikes didn't occur at the source but rather downwind from it.

 

So what does this all mean? Well on an individual level not that much as currently can't do that much about it. It doesn't increase your likelihood getting struck by lightening. On a regional level it means that we are essentially causing some chaotic storms which provide water. In short, this definitely proof that humans affect on weather patterns.

TheCD's take: It Looks like Fat Joe isn't the only one  who can make it rain.

Source: New Scientist, National Geographic

Photo: holamun2