Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms.
Here we go and watch more Beautiful and awesome Lightning
Strong winds from a severe thunderstorm appear to be bending out the channel of this lightning bolt. The fast moving wind storm moved through western Oklahoma late at night. The cloud feature along the leading edge is called a gust front or shelf cloud. As it passes the winds shift and become much cooler. This particular storm line had 60 m.p.h. winds.
Want to learn more about the lightning and understand what’s going on in these storms? Kids can learn more about lightning by visiting sources such as the National Geographic Page on lightning . Lightning extending from thunderstorms into space is a new area of study and may be observed in special situations involving very clear dark skies.
It’s common knowledge that lightning hits the highest spots, right? By watching lightning long enough in the mountains one will discover it hits where it pleases. It frequently bypasses the mountain tops to strike in the valleys or hillsides. If you’re out in a lightning storm it’s best to get under cover and away from big trees, but just because you’re on lower ground is no guarantee of protection.
This is a typical lightning shot for me. A couple of bolts hit the ground a few miles away, but there is much more to these hits than immediately meets the eye. Click on this enlargement of the image (somewhat reduced quality) but it does show what’s going on near the ground. As I look across the horizon on my monitor I can see up to 21 individual lightning discharges making contact with the ground in this instance, some are very faint. Never doubt for a second that each one of these little “mini-bolts” could harm you. I believe many lightning survivors are stuck by these small branches as opposed to the main bolt. Each one of them would carry thousands of volts at high enough amperage to knock a person to the ground and burn them.
For this reason it is good to be under cover during a lightning storm. Much more ground is covered by these bolts than the eye can see, especially during the daylight hours. Also, many bolts are so bright that the smaller branches are hidden in the flash.
All of these pics are from Google!
Lightning is generally very active during the formation stages of a wall cloud and mesocyclone. In this image I was able to take advantage of the situation by capturing a rapidly rotating wall cloud, with a tail cloud streaming in from the east. For the best observation of a wall cloud at night place it between you and the rain wall of the storm. That tends to be where most of the sheet lightning is coming from.
And today’s Tornadoes special. Click the pic below
or http://www.getwonder.com/2008/04/awesome-tornadoesnatures-most-violent-storms/
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