Is it possible to see thunder

During a thunderstorm, it's best to take shelter in a house, other structure or a hard-topped, fully enclosed vehicle. But as one of these options may not be available to you, your safety and wellbeing may depend on knowing the difference between these lightning myths and the facts. Next steps links: Learn more about protecting your home against lightning damage. Myth 2 — Lightning only strikes the tallest objects. Myth 3 — If you're stuck in a thunderstorm, being under a tree is better than no shelter at all.

Myth 4 — If you don't see rain or clouds, you're safe. Myth 5 — A car's rubber tires will protect you from lightning Myth 6 — If you're outside in a storm, lie flat on the ground. Myth 7 — If you touch a lightning victim, you'll be electrocuted.

Myth 8 — Wearing metal on your body attracts lightning. Scroll down for the answers to these and other questions—and for tips and procedures to protect yourself and your property against one of nature's most lethal phenomena. The spark can reach over five miles eight kilometers in length, raise the temperature of the air by as much as 50, degrees Fahrenheit 27, degrees Celsius , and contain a hundred million electrical volts.

The immense heat and other energy given off during a stroke has been found to convert elements into compounds that are found in organisms. It is estimated that Earth as a whole is struck by an average of more than a hundred lightning bolts every second.

The odds of being struck in your lifetime is 1 in 3, Injuries range from severe burns and permanent brain damage to memory loss and personality change. About 10 percent of lightning-stroke victims are killed, and 70 percent suffer serious long-term effects. About people survive lightning strokes in the U. It's been seen in volcanic eruptions, extremely intense forest fires, surface nuclear detonations, heavy snowstorms, and in large hurricanes.

Ice particles collide as they swirl around in a storm, causing a separation of electrical charges. Positively charged ice crystals rise to the top of the thunderstorm, and negatively charged ice particles and hailstones drop to the lower parts of the storm. Enormous charge differences develop. As the differences in charges continue to increase, positively charged particles rise up tall objects such as trees, houses, and telephone poles—and people.

When the charge gets close to the ground, it is attracted by all the positively charged objects, and a channel develops. The subsequent electrical transfer in the channel is lightning. That's not a good sign! Your best bet is to get yourself immediately indoors. Since light travels faster than sound, the thunder is heard after the lightning. If you see lightning and hear thunder at the same time, that lightning is in your neighborhood.

If you see successive strokes of lightning in the same place on the horizon then you are in line with the storm, and it may be moving toward you. Some lightning originates in the top of the thunderstorm, the area carrying a large positive charge. Lightning from this area is called positive lightning. Positive lightning is particularly dangerous, because it frequently strikes away from the rain core, either ahead or behind the thunderstorm. It can strike as far as 5 or 10 miles 8 or 16 kilometers from the storm, in areas that most people do not consider to be a lightning-risk area.

Lightning is one of the oldest observed natural phenomena on earth. It can be seen in volcanic eruptions, extremely intense forest fires pyrocumulonimbus clouds , surface nuclear detonations, heavy snowstorms, in large hurricanes, and obviously, thunderstorms. What are cloud flashes? A cloud flash is lightning that occurs inside the cloud, travels from one part of a cloud to another, and some channels may extend into clear air.

Is it possible to have thunder without lightning? No, it is not possible to have thunder without lightning. It turned out that the loudest thunder was near the ground, not up in the clouds.

Scientists hope the work opens the door for other experiments that will help to improve understanding of lightning. This study was presented last week at a meeting of American and Canadian geophysicists in Montreal.