Seventy percent of all lightning strikes occur during the presence of rain. The probability of a lightning strike decreases significantly above 20,000 feet (6,096 meters). Blue jets occur in the stratosphere and have been observed by pilots. Lightning strikes occur most often during the climb and descent phases of flight at an altitude of 5,000 to 15,000 feet (1,524 to 4,572 meters). We do know that red sprites and elves occur over cloud-to-ground lightning bolts. We still lack full knowledge about these forms of lightning. ![]() These lightning types are known as red sprites, elves and blue jets. NASAs Earth Observatory has just released a map that shows where lightning flashes most often, and it reveals that lightning is far more likely to occur over land than water, and is also much more common near the equator. Thats where the idea that lightning travels. Over the last twenty years scientists have discovered that lightning also shoots upward out of the top of thunderstorms into the upper atmosphere. If you watch a high-speed video of a lightning strike, though, the flash travels from the ground up to the cloud. ![]() This occurs so quickly that it looks like a single brilliant flash but high speed photography shows several bolts.Ĭloud-to-ground lightning starts from the sky and heads downward but what we see can travel from the ground upward. When the two streams meet an initial flash occurs and a channel forms so that electricity can flow between the cloud and ground. As the negative charges approach the ground, there is an upward stream of positive charges. This makes the ground positively charged. Cloud-to-ground is the best known type of lightning and it poses the greatest risk.Ī typical cloud-to-ground flash begins as negative charges travel toward the ground in a sequence of spurts. In-cloud lightning discharges are more common than cloud-to-ground discharges and are not as hazardous. Lightning can travel from cloud to cloud, within the same cloud, or between the cloud and ground. Lightning is a huge electrical discharge that results from vigorous motions that occur in thunderstorms.
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