{"id":527320,"date":"2026-01-19T11:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T11:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/527320\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T11:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T11:19:12","slug":"see-lightning-forms-from-the-traditional-to-bizarre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/527320\/","title":{"rendered":"See lightning forms from the traditional to bizarre"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lightning-between-skyscrapers-Alexander-Krivenyshev-July-14-2023-NYC-e1768489524461.jpg\" alt=\"Lightning forms: A jagged, glowing, vertical white line striking the water between two areas of tall buildings.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-full wp-image-533948\"\/><a href=\"https:\/\/ecp.earthsky.org\/community-photos\/entry\/60061\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">View at EarthSky Community Photos<\/a>. | Alexander Krivenyshev of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldtimezone.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WorldTimeZone.com<\/a> captured this cloud-to-ground lightning between skyscrapers on July 14, 2023. Alexander wrote: \u201cLightning bolt strikes the Hudson River between lower Manhattan and Jersey City.\u201d Thank you, Alexander! There are many lightning forms we can see. Read on to find out what they are.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/earthskystore.org\/collections\/astronomy-tools\/products\/earthsky-lunar-calendar\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">EarthSky\u2019s 2026 lunar calendar shows the moon phase for every day of the year. Available now. Get yours today!<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lightning comes in many forms,<\/strong> from cloud-to-cloud flashes to rare events such as sprites and blue jets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Extreme conditions can spark lightning, too.<\/strong> This includes lightning due to volcanoes, nuclear bombs and towering clouds created by wildfires.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate change may affect lightning activity<\/strong>. Warmer air holds more water vapor, which can bring more storms and therefore more lightning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>  By <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/andrew-dowdy-119002\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Dowdy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/the-university-of-melbourne-722\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The University of Melbourne<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/jennifer-catto-1532391\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jennifer Catto<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/university-of-exeter-1190\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Exeter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/robyn-schofield-328688\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Robyn Schofield<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/the-university-of-melbourne-722\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The University of Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lightning forms capture our collective imagination<\/p>\n<p>Lightning has captured people\u2019s fascination for millennia. It\u2019s embedded in mythology, religion and popular culture. Think of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thor\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thor<\/a> in Norse mythology or <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Indra\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Indra<\/a> in Hinduism. In Australia, lightning is also associated with important creation ancestors such as shown in First Nations <a href=\"https:\/\/kakadu.gov.au\/discover\/culture\/stories\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rock art<\/a>. There are many different types of lightning \u2026 and many ways in which it influences our society and environment.<\/p>\n<p>What exactly is lightning?<\/p>\n<p>Lightning occurs due to a buildup of electric charge in clouds. This is similar to when you brush your hair or jump on a trampoline making your hair stand up on end, but to a much more extreme level. <\/p>\n<p>This buildup in clouds happens due to different types of frozen and liquid water bumping into each other in the updrafts and downdrafts that occur due to convection. That is, from hotter air rising and colder air falling. The buildup of electric charge can become so extreme that electricity flows through the air. This is what we see as lightning. <\/p>\n<p>We see the flash of the lightning almost as soon as it happens, but the sound of thunder comes later. <\/p>\n<p>Sound takes about three seconds to travel one kilometer (or five seconds to travel one mile). Counting the time between the flash and the thunder can tell you the distance to the lightning. Just count the number of seconds and divide by three to find the distance in kilometers (or divide by five to find miles).<\/p>\n<p>Earth also isn\u2019t the only place where lightning exists. Scientists have also recently <a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/space\/lightning-on-mars-dust-storms-dust-devils-perseverance-rover\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">detected<\/a> it on Mars for the first time. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cristina-Ortiz-Lopez-lightning-Granada-Spain-June-19-2023.png\" alt=\"A dark sky with blue shades and long, glowing jagged line streaking across it but not touching the ground.\" width=\"800\" height=\"482\" class=\"size-full wp-image-533953\"  \/><a href=\"https:\/\/ecp.earthsky.org\/community-photos\/entry\/59498\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">View at EarthSky Community Photos<\/a>. | EarthSky\u2019s own <a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/author\/cristinalopez\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cristina Ortiz L\u00f3pez<\/a> captured this intra-cloud (or cloud-to-cloud) lightning in Granada, Spain, on June 19, 2023. Thank you, Cristina!<br \/>\nThe main types of lightning<\/p>\n<p>There are two main types of lightning found on Earth: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Intra-cloud<\/strong> (or cloud-to-cloud) lightning goes from one part of a cloud to another part of a cloud, without ever reaching the ground. It might look like a cloud momentarily glows, often with the whole cloud appearing illuminated, sometimes without seeing the actual thin path the lightning takes. It occurs when the build-up of electric charge is different between different parts of a cloud, and is common because the lightning typically doesn\u2019t have to travel far. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Cloud-to-ground<\/strong> lightning can occur when the buildup of electric charge becomes different between a part of the cloud and the ground. This is perhaps the most famous type of lightning. While impressive to witness, cloud-to-ground lightning is a real risk for human safety, causing many recorded deaths each year.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The rare types of lightning<\/p>\n<p>There are also some other rarer, even more spectacular types of lightning: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Pyrogenic lightning<\/strong> can occur alongside extreme wildfires. These fires can sometimes generate lightning in their smoke plumes, known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rmets.org\/metmatters\/pyrocumulonimbus-clouds\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pyrocumulonimbus<\/a> clouds. This lightning can then <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/2017JD026577\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ignite new fires far away<\/a>, as occurred on <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Black_Saturday_bushfires\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Black Saturday<\/a> near Melbourne in 2009. Similarly, lightning can also sometimes occur in other hot plumes such as from <a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/earth\/volcanic-lightning-how-does-it-happen\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">volcanic eruptions<\/a> or nuclear bombs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Upper atmospheric<\/strong> light phenomena related to lightning, also known as <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/citizen-science\/spritacular\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">transient luminous events<\/a> include sprites, blue jets, ELVEs and PIXIES. Science is still trying to understand details on why these have different characteristic shapes and colors. For example, sprites look like glowing red jellyfish, while blue jets are giant sapphire beams that shoot upwards into the sky. ELVEs look like glowing red halos while PIXIES are flashes of electric blue light atop a thunderstorm. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Ball lightning<\/strong> is something many people have claimed to see over the years. But similar to claims of other strange things \u2013 such as the Loch Ness Monster or aliens \u2013 it is yet to be scientifically verified. For example, there might be various other explanations for floating balls of light that people see, such as proposed for the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Min_Min_light\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Min Min lights<\/a> in outback New South Wales potentially due to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2018-09-30\/min-min-lights-seen-in-outback\/10317058\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">distant car headlights<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lightning in a warming world<\/p>\n<p>The thunderstorms that cause lightning are often seen as tall billowing clouds known as <a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/earth\/what-are-cumulonimbus-clouds-thunderheads\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cumulonimbus<\/a>. They look like giant cauliflowers floating in the sky, with an anvil shape at their top in mature thunderstorms. <\/p>\n<p>Our <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1088\/1748-9326\/ae2527\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recent study<\/a> on thunderstorms and other weather systems suggests trends since the 1970s toward fewer thunderstorms in northern Australia and more near the southeast. There are still considerable uncertainties around how climate change influences thunderstorms and lightning. <\/p>\n<p>In general, we know warmer air can hold more water vapor, which might help fuel <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.1259100\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">more intense<\/a> convective storms and lightning.<\/p>\n<p>If more lightning occurs in a warmer world, the increase could in turn create more warming. That\u2019s because lightning splits nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the atmosphere to produce <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ozone\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ozone<\/a>, which has a <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5194\/acp-14-9871-2014\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">warming effect<\/a> on the atmosphere. Ozone also contributes to air pollution, as it is a respiratory irritant. <\/p>\n<p>However, lightning is far from the main cause of global warming, and more research is needed on these potential feedback processes to understand how important lightning could be in a warming climate. <\/p>\n<p>So next time you are watching the spectacular light show during a storm, you might like to consider the various forms that lightning can take. It is one of the marvels of the world we live in, as well as of other worlds, to be enjoyed \u2026 from a safe distance.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768821552_598_count.gif\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/andrew-dowdy-119002\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Dowdy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/the-university-of-melbourne-722\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The University of Melbourne<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/jennifer-catto-1532391\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jennifer Catto<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/university-of-exeter-1190\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Exeter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/robyn-schofield-328688\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Robyn Schofield<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/the-university-of-melbourne-722\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The University of Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/from-bolts-to-blue-jets-lightning-comes-in-many-strange-forms-268197\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: Beyond bolts, there are many lightning forms that you might see, including red sprites, blue jets and more. Read about them here.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/todays-image\/rare-timelapse-red-sprites-the-southern-milky-way\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read more: Rare timelapse of red sprites and the southern Milky Way<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    EarthSky Voices<br \/>\n                    <a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/author\/earthskyblog\/\" class=\"post-author-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">View Articles<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    About the Author:<\/p>\n<p>Members of the EarthSky community &#8211; including scientists, as well as science and nature writers from across the globe &#8211; weigh in on what&#8217;s important to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Alexander Krivenyshev of WorldTimeZone.com captured this cloud-to-ground lightning between skyscrapers on July&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":527321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[917,159,783,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-527320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-earth","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-space","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115921497227508320","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}