I received an article today through eMail about how 3 of the strongest hurricanes this year (Emily - Cat-4, Katrina - Cat-5, and Rita - Cat-5) were found to be unusually active lightning producers.

It's generally understood that hurricanes lack lightning activity because they're mostly composed of horizontal winds (convergence and shear). Vertical winds are a key component to lightning production, since it acts as a separation mechanism between lighter, positively charged particles and the heavier, negatively-charged particles within a cloud layer. Hurricanes Emily, Katrina, and Rita were all found to be unusually active, apparently, and NASA issued some of their findings Monday, regarding research that was being done through this past hurricane season:

Read on... It's very interesting! Especially to you science/weather nuts, like me... *grin