By using data of atmospheric electric field mills,weather radars and lighting position indicators,a thunderstorm on 1 July 2013 in Qingdao was studied.The results show that on the curve of measured earth surface electric intensity,when a polarity reversal greater than 2 kV/m within tens to hundreds of milliseconds is observed,and followed by an electric intensity swift falling back to the previous data value range,one occurrence of cloud-to-ground lighting can be confirmed.As measured electric intensity curve presents the change of the distance between the thunder cloud and the observation point, lighting forecasting and warning can be made via measuring the rise of the atmospheric electric intensity in advance.Using atmospheric electric field observation network, the track of the thunder cloud can be deduced. By comprehensive analysis of data of atmospheric electric field observation network, weather radars and lighting location systems, the activity of the thunder cloud can be better captured, and lighting forecasting and warning can be improved.