Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The flash of a lightning strike and resulting thunder occur at roughly the same time. But light travels 300,000 km/sec, almost a million times the speed of sound. Sound travels at the slower speed of about 340 m/sec (depending on the temperature), so the flash of lightning is seen before thunder is heard.
In fact, lightning can, and often does, strike the same place more than once. Lightning in a thunderstorm is more likely to strike objects and spots that are more prominent or conductive. For instance, lightning strikes the Empire State Building in New York City on average 23 times per year. [185] [186] [187]
The city of Teresina in northern Brazil has the third-highest rate of occurrences of lightning strikes in the world. The surrounding region is referred to as the Chapada do Corisco ("Flash Lightning Flatlands"). [10] In the United States, the west coast has the fewest lightning strikes, and Florida sees more lightning than any other area; In ...
[10] [11] Positive clear-air strikes can occur in highly sheared environments where the upper positive charge region becomes horizontally displaced from the precipitation area. [12] Cloud-to-air lightning is a lightning flash in which one end of a bidirectional leader exits the cloud, but does not result in a ground flash. Such flashes can ...
According to Lonely Planet, planes are engineered with a science that allows them to withstand lightning strikes and keep passengers safe. Older aircrafts are secured with a type of metal that ...
5. Dangerous Lightning: Thousands of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes per hour can also occur in a squall line. Occasional lightning strikes can continue for a half-hour or longer after the ...
Side flashes occur when lightning strikes an object, like a tree or pole, and part of the current jumps out to hit a person standing within a few feet of the object. According to the National ...
Dry lightning refers to lightning strikes occurring in this situation. Both are so common in the American West that they are sometimes used interchangeably. [2] Dry thunderstorms occur essentially in dry conditions, and their lightning is a major cause of wildfires.