Understanding Lightning: Continuing Current/Hot Lightning (2024)

FAQs

Understanding Lightning: Continuing Current/Hot Lightning? ›

In a typical return stroke, electricity flows for only a short period and does not generate the heat required to ignite a fire; however, in continuing current, electricity flows over a much longer period of time and will generate considerably more heat.

The term heat lightning is commonly used to describe lightning from a distant thunderstorm just too far away to see the actual cloud-to-ground flash or to hear the accompanying thunder.

Studies have calculated that thunder sound will dissipate by 16 km (10 miles) under ideal atmospheric conditions. If you can hear a continuous rumble for 30 minutes, then it is most likely being produced by multiple lightning bolts.

No, it is not possible to have thunder without lightning. Thunder starts as a shockwave from the explosively expanding lightning channel when a large current causes rapid heating. However, it is possible that you might see lightning and not hear the thunder because it was too far away.

When you are out in the great outdoors and have no internet access, you can calculate the distance of a storm using the simple 3-second rule: Just count the seconds between when you see the lightning strike and when you hear the thunder clap and divide this number by three.

Heat lightning is an unofficial term used to describe what people perceive as lightning produced without thunder. Heat lightning is just regular lightning caused by a distant thunderstorm whose light can be seen from reflections across great distances.

However, there is no difference between 'heat lightning' and lightning in a thunderstorm. When lightning strikes it is hotter than the surface of the sun! The air around a lightning strike is quickly heated and it expands, creating a pressure wave.

It is most often called heat lightning as the phenomenon regularly occurs during the summer months. Non-stop lighting is believed by some to be generated from hot and humid conditions alone, but this is false. The truth is, you are simply too far away from the storm itself to hear any thunder.

Intra-Cloud: The most common type of lightning. It happens completely inside the cloud, jumping between different charge regions in the cloud. Intra-cloud lightning is sometimes called sheet lightning because it lights up the sky with a 'sheet' of light.

Operation Rolling Thunder was a frequently interrupted bombing campaign that began on 24 February 1965 and lasted until the end of October 1968. During this period U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft engaged in a bombing campaign designed to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to take over South Vietnam.

Is there such thing as heat lightning? ›

There is no such thing as “heat lightning.” All lightning comes as a result of a thunderstorm, and, if you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to pose an immediate threat to you. The most effective lightning safety action can be found in avoiding the lightning threat altogether.

Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the air, or the ground. In the early stages of development, air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges in the cloud and between the cloud and the ground.

In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times hotter than the surface of the sun).

When You See Lightning, Count The Time Until You Hear Thunder. If That Is 30 Seconds Or Less, The Thunderstorm Is Close Enough To Be Dangerous – Seek Shelter (if you can't see the lightning, just hearing the thunder is a good back-up rule). Wait 30 Minutes Or More After The Lightning Flash Before Leaving Shelter.

Therefore, people should move to a safe place when a thunderstorm is 6 to 10 miles away. Also, the plan's guidelines should account for the time it will take for everyone to get to a safe place. Here are some criteria that could be used to halt activities.

If you count the number of seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder, and then divide by 5, you'll get the distance in miles to the lightning: 5 seconds = 1 mile, 15 seconds = 3 miles, 0 seconds = very close. Keep in mind that you should be in a safe place while counting.

There is no such thing as “heat lightning.” All lightning comes as a result of a thunderstorm, and, if you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to pose an immediate threat to you. The most effective lightning safety action can be found in avoiding the lightning threat altogether.

The moral of the story is that swimming and lightning do not mix. Keep yourself and your family safe by staying indoors during a storm (or at the very least staying low to the ground and out of water if you're outside).

The sky will seem to flicker with light; and even on a seemingly clear night with stars, you may see flashes. No sound accompanies the flash, although if you are listening to an AM radio, you'll hear crackles of static at the same time you see the flash.