How does a stormscope/strikefinder actually work?

G.R. Patterson III wrote:

"James M. Knox" wrote:

It was from this that they found
that they could do a good estimate of distance by essentially matching the
basic pattern to one of several basic shapes (this is partly how they
exclude cloud-to-cloud) and then comparing the difference between the
"paradigm" shape and what was actually measured.


Dumb question time. Why exclude cloud-to-cloud? Wouldn't that type of lightning also
indicate conditions one would wish to avoid?

Good question. I think the idea that a lightning bolt is an impulse
that excites all frequencies equally at the source. So it shouldn't
matter if it is cloud-cloud or cloud-ground. And, how does a receive
know which is which anyway?