What Causes Lightning

Lightning is among the atmosphere's most mesmerizing and powerful phenomenon. It can heat the air to over 50,000 degrees five times hotter than the surface of the sun. It happens in the United States about 25 million times a year and each strike has the potential to be deadly.

But what causes lightning?

Thunderstorm updraft develops various kinds of precipitation form in different levels of the storm. These particles of precipitation rub against each other becoming charged.

Typically positive charges form in the lighter ice particles near the top of the storm. While heavier negatively charged particles are created in the middle of a storm from rain and hail. A small positive charge also can form at the thunderstorm's base or on the ground, the atmosphere acts as an insulator keeping these charges apart.

But when the charges become too great for the air to handle, there's a rapid discharge of electricity.

Lightning can occur between opposite charges within the same cloud, between two clouds or what you may be more familiar with known as cloud to ground lightning. If the strike originates from the negatively charged mid section of the storm. It's referred to as a negatively charged strike since it transfers that negative energy to the ground.

However, if a strike originates from the positively charged top of the storm, it can carry that charge all the way to the surface with significantly more energy. Though positively charged lightning makes up less than 5% of all strikes It's believed to be responsible for a large percentage of forest fires and power line damage. All kinds of lightning are dangerous. So, remember thunder roars go indoors.