AbstractUsing synchronous data from a three‐dimensional lightning VHF radiation source mapping system, broadband electric field changes, and the radiation intensity of lightning on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, we divided the preliminary breakdown process into two processes by subdividing the original definition: an initial preliminary breakdown process and a subsequent preliminary breakdown process. We comparatively analyzed the initial preliminary breakdown process and the initial pulse cluster for different types of lightning in a thunderstorm and studied the correlation between the propagation direction of the initial streamer and the polarity of the initial pulse cluster, as well as the correlation between the propagation path of the initial streamer and the charge structure of the thunderstorm. The statistical analysis shows that the streamer propagation distance of the initial preliminary breakdown process maintained good consistency with the number of the initial pulse clusters generated in the initial preliminary breakdown process. When the initial preliminary breakdown process included multiple pulse clusters, the initial streamer exhibited a discontinuous discharge channel through a stepped development traveling upward or downward. Each step corresponded to a pulse cluster. The amplitude of the radiation and the broad electric field change pulse first increased and then decreased in each pulse cluster. The polarity of the initial pulse cluster was consistent with the propagation direction of the initial streamer in the initial preliminary breakdown process, and the propagation direction of the initial streamer was consistent with the charge structure of the thunderstorms.