The rarest type of lightning is ball lightning which is also called globe lightning which is a rare aerial phenomenon in the form of a luminious sphere which is most often several centimeters in diameter.
The types of lightning are.
Intracloud lightning.
Ground to Cloud lightning.
Cloud to Air lightning.
Positive cloud to ground lightning.
Another type of lighting is Cloud to ground lightning or intercloud lightning.
Cloud to ground lightning is rare but also the most dangerous form of lightning.
Cloud to ground lightning is negatively charged and the negatively charged storm base, positive charge begins to pool within the surface of the earth and the positive charge will shadow the storm wherever it goes and is responsible for the cloud to ground lightning.
Cloud to ground lightning occurs every single second and about 100 cloud to ground lightning strikes the ground every second.
Cloud to ground lightning occurs every single second and about 100 cloud to ground lightning strikes the ground every second.
The cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, only make up approximately 20% of all lightning strikes.
Cloud to ground lightning means that the lightning strike occurs between the clouds and the ground.
Cloud to air lightning is when lighting occurs when the air around the positively charged cloud top then reaches out to the negatively charged air around it.
The state that has the most cloud to ground lightning is the state of Texas and they have recorded at least 41,914,516 lightning strikes.
Most lighting strikes are not cloud to ground as around 20 percent of all lightning strikes are cloud to ground.
Cloud to ground lightning strike are rare.
Rainbow lightning does exist although it's very rare to see rainbow lightning as the chances of the lightning flashing near a rainbow are very slim.
Black lightning is pretty rare as there is around only one dark lightning or black lightning occurs for every 1,000 visible lightning flashes.
The most powerful form of lightning is positive lightning that is what you really need to watch out for as it not only tends to come after the storm seems to have passed but also produces much more energy than a negative form of lightning.
Negative lightning produces only 300 million volts and 30,000 amps and positive lightning produces nearly a billion volts and 300,000 amps.
The most powerful lightning ever was discovered during a sky piercing strike with 300 coulombs of energy which was transferred from the origin point at the top of the cloud and to the lower edges of space which is an area that is known as the ionosphere.
The most lightning in the US is in the state of Florida which ranks highest for lightning strike density with an average of 109.84 lightning strikes per square kilometer.
The state of Texas also ranks the highest for the total number of lightning strikes with an average of 27,696,688 lightning strikes per year.
The city that gets the most lightning strikes is Four Corners Florida which is outside Orlando Florida.
Four Corners Florida has a lightning density of 474 lightning strikes per square kilometer.
The rarest color of lightning is pink or green lightning which is seen during snowstorms and is known as thundersnow.
Thundersnow is rare and the unique sky color is caused by snow flakes refracting and reflecting the white lightning bolt in a unique way.
The reason it's unsafe to be at the beach during a lightning storm is because you will be more vulnerable to being struck directly by lightning because when you're on the beach you are most often the tallest thing in the immediate area that makes you more vulnerable and prone to being struck by lightning.
The state that has the least lightning strikes is Washington.
The district of Columbia also has the least lightning strikes but Washington is the least lightning prone state..
Washington sees around only 21,000 lightning strikes per year with an average of 0.3 lightning strikes per square mile which is between 1 and 2 percent of the number of lightning strikes that Florida gets in a year.
The thickness of a lightning bolt is between 2 to 3 cm.
The diameter of a lightning bolt is about a 0.5 to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) wide, but can be up to 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) wide.
The average length of a lightning bolt from a cloud to the ground is 3 to 4 miles (4.8 to 6.4 kilometers) long.
Lightning is so fast because it has no weight or mass and it travels at the same speed of light.
And light is made of electromagnetic waves and it travels at that speed, because that is exactly how quickly waves of electricity and magnetism travel through space.
Lightning is faster than a bullet.
Bullets travel slower than lightning and lightning travels much faster than a bullet as lightning travels at the speed of light.
The speed of thunder is the same as the speed of sound which is 1088 feet per second.
Lightning travels at the speed of light which is 186,000 miles per second.
Lightning is first before thunder.
During a thunderstorm you'll see the lightning first and then a few seconds later or a few minutes later the thunder will occur.
However it may only take a second between the thunder and lightning as the times between the thunder and lightning can vary.
When you are watching the sky you see the lightning before you hear the thunder.
This is because the light travels much faster than sound waves and you can estimate the distance of the lightning by counting how many seconds it takes until we hear the thunder.
It takes approximately 5 seconds for the sound to travel 1 mile.
A thunderstorm is a violent short-lived weather disturbance that is almost always associated with lightning, thunder, dense clouds, heavy rain or hail, and strong gusty winds.
Thunderstorms arise when layers of warm, moist air rise in a large, swift updraft to cooler regions of the atmosphere.
Lightning causes thunder!
Energy from a lightning channel heats the air briefly to around 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, much hotter than the surface of the sun.
This causes the air to explode outward.
Signs that thunder are coming include.
Large, puffy cumulus clouds.
Darkening sky and clouds.
Abrupt changes in wind direction.
Sudden drop in temperature.
Drop in atmospheric pressure.
In the summer, thunderstorms typically develop in the afternoon when the sun heats air near the ground.
If the atmosphere is unstable, bubbles of warm air will rise and produce clouds, precipitation, and eventually lightning.