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Positive lightning is less common than negative lightning and on average makes up less than 5% of all lightning strikes. [10] A bolt from the blue lightning strike which appears to initiate from the clear, but [clarification needed] the turbulent sky above the anvil cloud and drive a bolt of plasma through the cloud directly to the ground. They ...
The lightning may be too far away to discern individual flashes. Smooth channel lightning is an informal term referring to a type of cloud-to-ground lightning strike that has no visible branching and appears like a line with smooth curves as opposed to the jagged appearance of most lightning channels. They are a form of positive lightning ...
A lightning strike or lightning bolt is a lightning event in which an electric discharge takes place between the atmosphere and the ground. Most originate in a cumulonimbus cloud and terminate on the ground, called cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning.
When a sufficiently large positive lightning strike carries charges to the ground, the cloud top is left with a strongly negative net charge. This can be modeled as a quasi-static electric dipole and for less than 10 milliseconds a strong electric field is generated in the region above the thunderstorm.
World map showing frequency of lightning strikes, in flashes per km 2 per year (equal-area projection). Lightning strikes most frequently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Combined 1995–2003 data from the Optical Transient Detector and 1998–2003 data from the Lightning Imaging Sensor.
The shot was taken on March 27, 2023 at 21.43 UTC from Possagno, TV, Italy. The lightning that triggered it was in Polverigi, AN, Italy, at a distance of 285 km. Its strength, estimated at about 410 kA (kilo-Ampère), which is an order of magnitude stronger than a normal lightning (10 to 30 kilo-Ampère), generated an intense electromagnetic pulse.
Lightning is very infrequent, 1–5 cloud-to-ground strikes in a five-minute period. 3 Widely scattered thunderstorms. Lightning is infrequent, 6–10 cloud-to-ground strikes in a five-minute period. 4 Scattered thunderstorms. Lightning is frequent, 11–15 cloud-to-ground strikes in a 5-minute period. 5 Numerous thunderstorms.
A negative lightning strike typically lasts for only tens of microseconds, but multiple strikes are common. A positive lightning strike is typically a single event, but the larger peak current may flow for hundreds of milliseconds, making it considerably more energetic than negative lightning.