Lightening Show
After throwing a party for my MIL's 76th birthday and getting things cleaned up and put away, I was crawling into bed when I noticed the strobing light coming through our bedroom windows. I put on my glasses, looked and saw it was some very intense lightening that wasn't very far away and yet didn't make a sound. It was just silently flashing at a very rapid clip.
I'm not sure I've seen anything quite like it. The storm cell eye passed a little over a mile or two from us so we never got a single drop of rain.
We get storms like that a lot in my part of the country, i.e. intense lightning shows with no thunder. I have no idea what causes it. On the other hand, we sometimes get storms where we can't see lightning, but the thunder rolls non-stop for long periods of time. I have no idea what causes that either. Weather is certainly fascinating.
ReplyDeleteAfter googling, I think it was what is termed "heat lightening" and it does have thunder associated with it but it was too far away for me to hear. I thought that the rule was to count the number of seconds between a flash and the thunder and that is equal to the number of miles away but google says I need to divide the seconds by five first to equal the miles so at best, we can only hear thunder if the storm is within ten miles. It looked a lot closer than that but perhaps it wasn't.
Delete"Heat lightning," yes, that's it. I seem to recall seeing it when I was a kid in Illinois. Good information about dividing the seconds by 5. I didn't realize the thunder wasn't auditory over 10 miles. What interesting things we learn!
DeleteI guess I have seen something similar once or twice. I can remember one time at the cottage, but by the time I tried to take a photo, the show was just about over.
ReplyDeleteThis went on for a good 15 minutes or so after I first noticed it.
DeleteI believe it is heat lightning, as you have noted above. It really can make for a show.
ReplyDeleteIt was like being over the hill from a World War II battle but without the noise!
DeleteCool show! And you didn't even have to pay for it. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteYes, admission price was very reasonable.
DeleteSpectacular! I love a good lightning show as long as it isn't near me (like the one we had two days ago). I've always heard the term "heat lightning", thinking it was exactly that - lighting as a result of the heat - even if that might not have any scientific basis. But I only recently learned that, like you said, it's really just a storm very far away. It was a letdown, a bit like demoting Pluto.
ReplyDeleteI think I have only heard the term "heat lightening" once before in the John Prine song "Mexican Home".
DeleteHeat lightning. You have warm weather:)
ReplyDeleteI guess it is relative. It had been much much warmer the week before this display but that night felt fairly cool though I'm guessing the temperatures were in the upper 70's at the time of the show.
DeleteHi Ed, I've been lately searching for interesting blogs to follow and came across yours. I've seen that kind of strobe lightning before and always find it strange. But much less scary than lightning and thunder that sounds like it's right outside my house.
ReplyDeleteFor sure. I always hate the strikes that make the old windows in my house rattle!
DeleteThat is definitely like a strobe!
ReplyDeletePerhaps the college over the hill from me was having a rave party!
DeleteAre you sure it wasn't an alien invasion?
ReplyDeleteWell if it was, they left me unmolested in my bed the rest of the night... that I can remember anyway!
DeleteHeat lightning is freaky. I think the last time I saw it was in New Mexico, nearly 50 years ago.
ReplyDeleteYou and others are making me feel better for not having seen anything like it before.
DeleteRe. your comment above, Ed -- yes, I was going to say it looks like the heat lightning I often saw in Florida. This was very persistent and flashy, a really good display! Can you imagine watching it as a cave person with no understanding of science? It must have been terrifying. No wonder humanity invented religion.
ReplyDeleteYour comment makes me wonder if this is another effect of global warming, i.e. it is more common in the south but now that it is becoming warmer, it might become more common this far north.
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