![]() ![]() ![]() All of those collisions create an electric charge. So the expression "out of the blue" is completely accurate - if you can hear thunder, it's possible, if not very likely, that lightning from a nearby thunderstorm can make it to wherever you are. Within a thundercloud way up in the sky, many small bits of ice (frozen raindrops) bump into each other as they move around in the air. The reason that it is called heat lightning is that it appears most often on a hot summer day when the sky is clear overhead. states - Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas - in 2020. What is heat lightning Heat lightning is a term used to describe lightning flashes that are too far away from you to hear the thunder. While most lightning bolts are 2 to 3 miles (3.2 to 4.8 kilometers) long, the world record flash was observed to stretch 477.2 miles (768 kilometers) across three U.S. Spider lightning refers to long, horizontal moving flashes often seen on the underside of stratiform clouds. Cloud-to-Cloud (CC) Lightning (or intercloud lightning) Although rare, lightning can also travel from one cloud to another (or more). Only about 10 percent of the victims of lightning strikes result in deaths - usually from cardiac arrest or irrevocable brain damage - which is somewhat surprising, considering a lightning bolt is about 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (27,760 degrees Celsius) - about five times hotter than the surface of the sun.Īlthough a lightning bolt is only about an inch in diameter (2 to 3 centimeters), it can stretch for miles. Heat lightning got its name because it is often seen on hot summer nights when thunderstorms are common. According to the National Weather Service, between 19, an average of 43 lighting-related deaths were reported in the United States each year. Lightning is the most beautiful and dangerous aspect of a storm. What is the science behind this beautiful - but dangerous - natural phenomenon? ClassicStock/Getty Images Flashes of lightning against a dark sky create an otherworldly effect. ![]()
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